Northern European retired residents in nine southern European areas: characteristics, motivations and adjustment

Abstract

During the last two decades, northern European retirement residence in the southern European sunbelt has grown strongly and its forms have rapidly changed, but standard demographic and social statistical sources provide no information about the flows, the migrants or their increasingly mobile and complex residential patterns. Considerable primary research has however recently been undertaken into the causes, conditions, experiences and consequences of international retirement migration (IRM) by investigators from Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Many collaborated when designing their studies and instruments, and all have subsequently worked together in a European Science Foundation Scientific Network. This paper compares the findings of six systematic social surveys in (to be more precise than the title) eight regions of southern Europe and the Canary Islands: all that have tackled similar research questions with similar methods and instruments. It presents interpretations of several comparative tables compiled from their original data, with a focus on the socio-economic backgrounds, motivations and behaviour of the various migrant groups and their relationship with the host and home countries. The paper presents new findings about the typical and variant forms of IRM, and additional understanding of the heterogeneity of the retirees of different nations and in the several regions.

El turismo residencial en Valle de Bravo, México. Una interpretación de su ciclo de vida

“…De los temas más estudiados sobre el turismo residencial, se destaca el de la migración internacional (Benson y O'Reilly, 2009;Hall y Müller, 2004;Müller, 2002;Rodríguez, 2004;Williams y Hall, 2000), ya que en un inicio, el turismo residencial comenzó como un fenómeno migratorio que se dio desde el norte al sur de Europa (Alarcón et al, 2010;Casado et al, 2004;Huete y Mantecón, 2010 ;López, 1995;O´Really, y Benson, 2009), se mencionan también los estudios del perfil que tienen los turistas residenciales (Coles et al, 2005;O´Really y Benson, 2009;Sanz, 2008), y los de medición estadística (Varela et al, 2003), así como su análisis teórico (Guilding et al, 2005).…”

Language Use and Social Inclusion in International Retirement Migration

“…Yet the general picture is that international retirement migration constitutes a relatively privileged form of migration, where individuals with high incomes and above-average education are overrepresented (Herzog, 2016;Casado-Díaz et al, 2004). Moreover, retirement migration is, by definition, pursued by people who are no longer dependent on labour incomes, but receive all or most of their incomes from pensions and savings.…”

“…This is often associated with improved health, with numerous migrants primarily moving because of health problems. Natural or cultural values, a slower pace of life and vivid social environments often also play a role, together with economic factors (Casado-Díaz, Kaiser, & Warnes, 2004;King et al, 2000).…”

Transnational aging: toward a transnational perspective in old age research

“…The term usually refers to the movement of older people from the Global North to countries with better climate, extended leisure options, lower living costs and attractive landscapes (Casado-Díaz et al 2004;King et al 2000). Research in this field emerged in the 1990s and has primarily focused on the so-called life-style migration of Northern European retirees, especially to Spain.…”