International retirement migration in Europe

Abstract

This paper presents a review and prospectus of international retirement migration (IRM), dealing mainly with European evidence but also referring to some analogous trends in North America. The paper is in three main parts. It first makes the case for regarding IRM as a significant aspect of population geography and of migration studies; in certain areas of Mediterranean Europe, IRM also has effects on regional economic geography. The second section of the paper discusses some of the early findings from a comparative study of British elderly residents in Tuscany, Malta, the Costa del Sol and the Algarve, based on questionnaire returns from 1066 respondents. Emphasising inter-destination differences, the analysis covers timing of the retirement migration flows, age and social class of the settlers, reasons for migration, geographical mobility patterns before and after retirement abroad, and integration. The final part of the article offers further reflections on why IRM is important – for the individual migrants themselves, for the host communities, and for public policy. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.