Returning Home Or Retire Here? Understanding The Migrants’ Retirement Return Migration And Pension Outcomes Using Administrative Data Linked With Surveys.

K.H. Veldman , NIDI
Jelle Lössbroek, NIDI
Kène Henkens, NIDI
Frank van Tubergen, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute

Across Europe, the number of migrants reaching retirement age has risen sharply and is expected to grow further in the coming decades. Many of these migrants are financially unprepared for retirement, often facing significantly lower pension incomes and higher risks of poverty compared to non-migrants. As a result, an increasing number find themselves at a crossroads: whether to return to their country of origin before retirement or remain in the destination country despite potential financial hardship. This study brings together two strands of research (a) retirement return migration and (b) migrant pension gaps. We follow a cohort of approximately 5,000 migrants from the largest origin groups in the Netherlands, including those from Suriname, Morocco, Turkey, and the Antilles, over a period of up to twenty years until retirement. By linking large-scale survey data to administrative records, we examine who chooses to return, who stays and experiences pension poverty, and who stays without financial difficulty. This design enables us to study the long-term consequences of otherwise unregistered factors such as remittance behavior, foreign homeownership, and language skills. This study advances understanding of how economic resources, family ties, and transnational connections together shape both return migration decisions and pension well-being.

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 Presented in Session 92. Flash Session International Migration