Factors Affecting Migration

Swedish Finance Minister Magdalenas Andersson has told that migrants help Europe boost economic growth: “It is important that we see that we do help families of working age coming to the Contitent which is an ageing continent. Of course, it would put some strains on the public financies in the short term but in the long run this could promote growth and job creation in Europe. We truly have a demographic challenge on this continent and having asylum seekers could be a good thing.” Not only Swedish Minister Rimantas Sadzius who expressed optimism that migrants could benefit Europe and his own country: “I think it is in our common interest to make some use of this situation, to make the best for us and the people coming into Europe-however harsh

We come to one important question: what are factors affecting migration of the elderly? There are two groups of possible answers. Those for whom migration is a necessary strategy, who would prefer not to move and those for whom migration is a positive decision. Of course they differ from the factors that affect migration at a younger age (which are primarly work-related, such as better salary or employment). But, when we come to the factors affecting migration at older age, they could be lower costs of living, good infrastructure, better weather or better access to health care or hospital services – those are some possible factors that become important in older age Despite all, migration as we can see, may be also beneficial for older people. For those older people who are moving nevertheless they would rather stay in origin country, the main reason for migration is usually to be closer to children. However, more research is still needed for different countries and for migration at older

Detailed research from a village in rural Indonesia found that 21% of older people had never had children and 26% had no surviving children. Childless older people have experienced significantly higher rates of socioeconomic deprivation, because poverty was both a consequence and a cause of childlessness. Older people who have children are usually more secure, because their children are taking care of them, nevertheless not all of them can rely on these children for support. ( Sources: Schroder-Butterfill and Kreager, 2005,2007).

There are also those who think that there is no real ‘solution’ to the problem of population ageing, and that we cannot think that one day migration will solve all problems of population ageing. It could be the situation and a possible solution, but only if rates of migration is so high that they could generate unsustainable population growth rates. So, the ‘easy’ option of encouraging more migration to address population ageing is demographically ineffective. It can be a short-term