Is It Colonialism When Europeans Retire in Cheaper Countries?
2 min read
The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on the impact of making another country your home in retirement.
I see many older Northern Europeans retiring to countries like Portugal or Morocco. And I know that some Americans are doing the same in Latin America. Is it fair to enjoy a different country’s sun and cheaper living in retirement, or is this a new, sweet form of colonialism? — Taimaz Szirniks
From the Ethicist:
“Colonialism,” historically, happened when a state took over another territory, typically by force or fiat. It’s a story about domination backed by state power.
When individuals retire abroad, though, they settle with the host government’s consent, not a cannon. Societies have the right to decide whom they admit, within moral and legal bounds. International law protects refugees fleeing persecution, and decent nations avoid unfair discrimination or the splitting up of families. Beyond that, controlling residency and citizenship is a core piece of national sovereignty.
What these Northern Europeans are doing isn’t colonialism; it’s migration with permission. Retirees chasing a lower cost of living are simply doing transnationally what many do locally — moving where their resources stretch further, like Bostonians heading to Florida for sun and savings.
The impact is complicated, though. In places like Portugal, Morocco or Costa Rica, foreign retirees bring cash that helps lift economies. Portugal’s G.D.P. has climbed, partly thanks to Northern Europeans’ settling in the Algarve; Morocco’s absolute poverty rate (using U.N. measurements) dropped to under 2 percent in 2019 from 15 percent in 2001, partly fueled by European spending; American retirees in Panama or Mexico boost jobs in construction and services. (Inevitably, some complain about being fleeced by locals who see them as rich pickings.)
But there’s a catch — housing costs rise, too. In Lisbon, real estate prices have more than doubled in a decade as foreign buyers pour in. Property values in certain neighborhoods of Moroccan cities like Marrakech skew toward those with euros, not dirhams. Latin American expat hubs face the same situation: locals struggling to keep up with climbing rents or land prices on wages that don’t match pensions from abroad. Governments try to address the situation — Portugal has adjusted its Golden Visa program to ease pressure on cities — but members of the native middle class feel the squeeze. (Nor are these complications just a North-South thing: Talk to locals in Dublin, Copenhagen, Reykjavík or Vancouver.)
