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

Warnes, Anthony M.; Casado-Diaz, Maria Angeles; Casado-Diaz, Maria; Kaiser, Claudia

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 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. © 2004 Cambridge University Press.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: May 1, 2004
• Deposit Date: Jan 22, 2010
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 4, 2016
• Journal: Ageing and Society
• Print ISSN: 0144-686X
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-1779
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 353-381
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X04001898
• Keywords: retirement, international migration, Europe, lifestyle, mobility, residence
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1062399
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X04001898
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Copyright Cambridge University Press. Lead author. This paper is the first systematic review and the principal source of standardised information on international retirement migration research in southern Europe. The article reflects the collaborative work conducted by members of the European Science Foundation Scientific Network on �International Migration in Europe' (2001-3).
• Contract Date: Mar 4, 2016