Retiring abroad raises older adults’risk for loneliness, data shows
2 min read
Older adults who move abroad to retire have a higher risk of loneliness, according to a report published March 13 in the journal Psychology and Aging.
The team surveyed 4,995 Dutch retirees who moved abroad and compared their responses with a group of 1,338 Dutch retirees who stayed in the Netherlands. All of the participants were at least 65 years old when they were surveyed, and those who relocated did so after the age of 50.
Investigators asked the participants about feelings of loneliness, connections to others and how they adapted socially in their new countries. The team assessed two aspects of loneliness: emotional loneliness, which stems from the lack of close friends or a partner; and social loneliness, which stems from a lack of a broader social circle or a sense of community.
The retired people who moved were socially lonelier than those who didn’t relocate. This was despite the fact that the retired people who relocated had, on average, higher socioeconomic status and better health than those who didn’t move — factors often linked to being less lonely.
People who retired and relocated reported that they had lost contact with good friends and family from back home, and were both socially and emotionally lonelier. People with more contact with neighbors and a higher sense of belonging in their new country said they had less social loneliness, the data showed.
“International retirement migration is increasingly popular in Europe and around the world,” Esma Betül Savaş, the lead author from the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographics Institute, said in a statement. “Although these retirement migrants generally report being happy, they may still face struggles adapting to a new country.”
Authors of the report said that retirees should consider their social support systems if they are thinking of retiring out of their home country.
“It’s important for people considering retirement migration to think about how they can maintain their social ties in their origin country and make new ones in their destination country,” Savaş said.
