Mihaela Nedelcu and Eric Crettaz

Transnational Ageing: Post-Retirement Mobilities, Transnational Lifestyles and Care Configurations

Project Summary

Migration studies have often analyzed inequalities faced by older migrants ageing in a place or by the elderly left behind. Yet, in recent years, ageing populations are increasingly mobile after retirement. This new trend enables the study of diverse migration patterns of the elderly. Moreover, international retirement migrants are not a homogeneous category and post-retirement mobility (PRM) trajectories are dynamic, reflecting the interplay between individual factors, life-course events, family care obligations, and structural constraints. 

Adopting a mobility lens, our project investigates the current transnationalization of ageing as an expression of new diversities and related transformations of social life. In addition to the collection and analysis of new survey data about transnational mobilities of the population aged 55+ in Switzerland, two case studies are conducted, based on semi-structured interviews with retirees, who lived most of their active lives in Switzerland and, today, spend their retirement (or part of it) in Spain.

Scientific Poster 2022 (PDF)

Key Findings:

• Regardless of their migration background, respondents exhibit practices of international mobility, intentions of retirement mobilities, and transnational lifestyles.
• Over 60% of respondents intend to spend their retirement in a country other than Switzerland or between Switzerland and other countries.
• Only one in four older adults with a migration background and one in two of those without a migration background intend to spend their retirement solely in Switzerland.
• About 10% of respondents have lived or currently live three months a year in a country other than Switzerland.
• The main drivers of transnational lifestyles are home ownership in another country (42%) and climate and leisure motivations (over 35%).
• The most striking stated differences among respondents with or without a migration background are related to proximity to social contacts (family and friends), returning to the country of origin, as well as economic reasons.

Project-related scientific publications Select publication   Tomás, Livia and José Luis Molina A relational analysis of migration in old age: How transnational ties affect migration decisions 2024   Nedelcu, Mihaela Family reunification migrants and the Zero Generation 2023   Nedelcu, Mihaela, Eva Fernández G. G. and Malika Wyss A configurational approach to transnational families: Who and where is one’s family in the case of mobile older adults? 2023   Nedelcu, Mihaela, Livia Tomás, Laura Ravazzini and Liliana Azevedo A retirement mobilities approach to transnational ageing 2024   Tomás, Livia and Ophélie Bidet Conducting qualitative interviews via VoIP technologies: reflections on rapport, technology, digital exclusion, and ethics 2023   Gerber, Roxane and Laura Ravazzini Life satisfaction among skilled transnational families before and during the COVID-19 outbreak 2022   Tomás, Livia and Laura Ravazzini Inclusiveness Plus Mixed Methods: An Innovative Research Design on Transnational Practices of Older Adults 2022   Sontag, Katrin, Liliana Azevedo and Silva Lässer Student and retiree mobilities 2021   Ciobanu, Ruxandra Oana, Mihaela Nedelcu, Eva Soom Ammann and Karin van Holten Intersections between Ageing and Migration: Current Trends and Challenges 2020   Nedelcu, Mihaela and Malika Wyss Transnational grandparenting: an introduction 2020   Ravazzini, Laura, Christoph Halbmeier and Christian Suter Revenu et patrimoine des ménages issus de l’immigration. Comparaison entre la Suisse et l’Allemagne 2020   Crettaz, Eric and Janine Dahinden How Transnational are Migrants in Switzerland? An Analysis of the Migration-Mobility- Transnationality Nexus 2019