Describing and Explaining International Retirement Migrants’ Social Integration: A Study in Thirty-Five Destination Countries

Esma Savas , NIDI
Kène Henkens, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)
Matthijs Kalmijn, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Research Institute NIDI/University of Groningen

Limited social integration can have adverse effects on migrants and host communities. Nevertheless, research shows that many international retirement migrants struggle to integrate into the local community. However, these studies have often focused on popular regions that provide a selective group of retirement migrants. Using a novel survey of Dutch retirement migrants based on a probability sample (DRM 2021), we describe and explain Dutch retirement migrants' social integration with locals, Dutch migrants, and non-Dutch migrants. We differentiate weak and strong ties by investigating levels of contact and the number of friendships. Findings showed that Dutch retirement migrants had the most friendships with locals, followed by Dutch migrants, and the fewest friendships with non-Dutch migrants. An important country-level predictor was relative number of Dutch individuals in the destination, which was negatively associated with local contact and positively associated with migrant contact. The strongest individual-level socio-cultural predictors as previous connections to the destination, which was associated with increased local contact, and stronger national identity, which was associated with more contact with Dutch and non-Dutch migrants. Duration of residence, national identity, and orientation towards the destination culture exhibit stronger effects in friendships than in acquaintances. Overall, our results shed light on the social integration of retirement migrants in various countries, revealing that, retirement migrants engage with locals as well as fellow migrants. Their contact is driven by several individual and contextual factors, which show the effect of preference and opportunity structures on retirement migrants’ social integration.

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 Presented in Session 63. Family and Social Ties of Migrants