Two aspects of the gradual but inexorable ageing of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean are of particular concern. One is that the population is ageing faster in the region than it did historically in the developed countries. The other is the regional context of unrelenting inequality, weak institutional development, the poor coverage and quality of social protection systems and the high demands placed on the family to provide security and protection. This new book from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) examines the ageing phenomenon from the demographic perspective, the guaranteeing of human rights in old-age and the public policies that the countries of the region are deploying in fulfi lment of agreements arising from the fi rst and second meetings of the Regional Intergovernmental Conference on Ageing in Latin America and the Caribbean (2003 and 2007).