Health and Migration of the Elderly

Abstract

The degree to which migration decisions of the elderly are influenced by health status is largely unknown. Two seemingly contradictory influences of health on migration are possible within the older cohort. First, those elderly in good health would appear more likely to make discretionary moves, such as to retirement homes in the Sunbelt, than elderly who are in poor health. Alternatively, those elderly in declining health, such as stroke victims, seem more likely to be involved in a move to a long-term care facility. While both types of migration related to health occur, the size of the first relative to the second and the distance of the moves of each type need to be determined. Both types of health-related migration have policy implications which are briefly addressed in this article.

Migration in later life: evidence from the British Household Panel Study

“…In contrast to previous studies 24 , Figure 6 shows that at ages 50-69 men and women whose health has deteriorated between waves have similar migration levels to those whose health has improved, while at ages 70-79 migration is highest among those whose health has improved. The direction of causation is not clear.…”

“…In a similar fashion to the relationship between migration and wealth discussed above, the relationship between health and migration has also been postulated as being U-shaped 24 . It is argued that good health may help facilitate amenity driven moves in early old age, while poor health may act as a trigger for an assistance move at older ages.…”

Test of the ‘healthy migrant hypothesis’: A longitudinal analysis of health selectivity of internal migration in Indonesia

“…Therefore, while younger adult migrants may be generally healthier in comparison to nonmigrants, the elderly migrants tend to be less healthy. In addition, for the elderly health may have a causal impact on migration decisions, especially when they experience poor health or expect future deterioration of their health (Patrick, 1980). For the young, in comparison, health might not be directly related to migration decisions, but rather increases or reduces the likelihood of moving because of the difficulties and stress associated with the migration process.…”

Factors differentiating elderly residential movers and nonmovers

“…The relationship between health and mobility is unclear, in part because of the apparently contradictory influence which poor health can have on movement (Barsby & Cox 1975;Patrick 1980). First, poor health may facilitate movement.…”

“…Patrick (1980) suggests that the relationship between health and mobility has been overlooked because information on health status is typically not collected in data sets which are used for ~eo~raohic mobility research. Similarlv, Soeare & Mever (1988) point out that more attention should be given to elderly mobility using data sets which include health and disability information.…”