The International Dispersal of Pensioners from Affluent Countries

✍ Scribed by Warnes, Anthony M.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 164 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1077-3495
• DOI: 10.1002/ijpg.232

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

This paper examines the distribution of the older beneficiaries of state social security programmes, with particular attention to the UK, the US and Australia. These data have not previously been analysed by a migration researcher, provide a partial source on international retirement moves, and make clear that several processes and types contribute to the international dispersal of a country's retirement population. They show that ‘return’ and ‘family‐joining’ migrations are the predominant form, and that their forms and destinations are changing. The British increasingly select European destinations at the expense of the formerly dominant destinations of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. The US continues to be a leading destination for British and German retirees. European data also show that ‘amenity‐seeking’ retirement moves from northern to Mediterranean countries have increased rapidly in recent decades and are growing faster than other types of retirement migration. Social security records also reveal new patterns of return migrations – the number of British pensioners in several Caribbean countries is increasing rapidly, and high shares of Australian overseas migrants are in Mediterranean countries such as Italy, Greece and Malta. Given the paucity of research on these emergent migration flows, the paper concludes by discussing both the prospects for their growth and research priorities. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.