Factors influencing the spatial distribution of international retirement migrants settling in Hungary

Datos Bibliográficos

ID13063717
AutoresBálint Koós (0000-0002-7075-2748, ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, autor de correspondencia), Patrik Tátrai (0000-0002-7365-1993, HUN-REN Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences), Dóra Gábriel (0009-0009-5372-7979, ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies)
Año2025
Volumen13
Número1
Fecha de publicación2025-06-05
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaComparative Migration Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2214-594X • E-ISSN: 2214-8590
EditorialSpringer Nature (PUBLISHER • SG)
DOI10.1186/s40878-025-00455-x
OpenAlexW4411061987
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas38

Over the past few decades, the forms and geographies of international retirement migration have diversified globally. An outstanding example of this is Hungary, a destination for both retirement migrants from Western Europe and older people, mainly ethnic Hungarian migrants from neighbouring regions. While an increasing body of literature deals with the spatiality of international retirement migration, only a few studies have analysed the settlement choices of older immigrants in receiving countries. To fill this gap, our paper presents a multi-level analysis of the spatial characteristics of the older adults who are settling in Hungary. We examine two different groups of older people arriving in Hungary to identify the factors that may influence their choice of place of residence and explain the possible reasons for their mobility. The empirical data pertain to German and Ukrainian individuals aged over 60, whose migration choices, because their places of residence are characterised by remarkably different geographical patterns, can be considered distinct. Based on a multivariate statistical analysis of the size and distribution of German and Ukrainian migrants aged 60 and over, we found that only some of the German older adults arrive in Hungary as ‘classic’ lifestyle migrants. However, many of them live in urban areas or disadvantaged regions. In contrast, older persons from Ukraine, primarily ethnic Hungarians, are concentrated along the Ukrainian border or choose to reside in urban municipalities located farther from the border. Data suggest that retired people arriving in Hungary are driven mainly by economic strategies, which, in our view, can be identified as different forms of geoarbitrage, namely, higher pension-seeking among Ukrainians and escaping relative deprivation among Germans. The increasing number of older migrants entails new challenges at the local level, requiring municipalities to expand social services, underscoring the political relevance of our findings

Demographic economics · Distribution (mathematics · Economic geography · Economics · Geography · Settling · Spatial distribution · Environmental Science · Mathematics · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies · Rural development and sustainability · Urbanization and City Planning