People who move abroad after retiring are more likely to feel lonely because they lack community support in their new home, a study warned today.
Many senior citizens dream of retiring overseas in a warmer, less expensive country – but researchers said loneliness can be a ‘black spot in paradise’ for older people.
Retirees who move abroad may be at greater risk of loneliness than those who stay in their home country, according to a study in the journal Psychology and Aging.
Lead author Esma Betül Savaş, of the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographics Institute, also warned that loneliness is a ‘risk factor for adverse health outcomes’.
She added: ‘International retirement migration is increasingly popular in Europe and around the world. On social media you see all the people in Europe sunbathing in Spain, American retirees are moving to Mexico and Japanese retirees to Malaysia.
‘Although these retirement migrants generally report being happy, they may still face struggles adapting to a new country.’
She said those struggles can involve reduced contact with family and old friends – including grown up children – as well as difficulty forming new friendships and connections in their new countries.
To better understand retirement migrants’ experiences, doctoral researcher Ms Savaş and her colleagues surveyed 4,995 Dutch retirees living abroad and a comparison group of 1,338 Dutch retirees still living in the Netherlands.
An elderly couple ride a mobility scooter on Levante Beach in Benidorm, Spain (file image)
To qualify as a retirement migrant, those living abroad had to be older than 65 and to have moved to their new country after turning 50.
The research team asked the participants about their feelings of loneliness, as well as their connections with family, friends and neighbours back home and in their new countries.
The researchers looked at 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 findings showed, overall, that retirement migrants were ‘socially lonelier’ than those who stay at home, despite them being, on average, financially better off and healthier than non-migrant retirees in the control group.
But the retirement migrants were not, on average, emotionally lonelier than non-migrants.
Lead author Esma Betül Savaş, of the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographics Institute, said ‘retirement migrants’ may ‘face struggles adapting to a new country’
The researchers said that makes sense as many retirees move to a new country with a spouse or partner.
Only retirement migrants who reported that they had lost contact with good friends and family from back home were both socially and emotionally lonelier.
The research team also found that those who had more contact with neighbours and a higher sense of belonging to their new country reported less social loneliness.
Ms Savaş said the study highlights the need for retirees to consider their social support systems if they are thinking of retiring abroad.
She added: ‘Older adults may face double jeopardy in retiring to a new country as they are vulnerable to both age-related and migration-related risk factors for loneliness, and loneliness is itself a risk factor for adverse health outcomes.
‘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.’
