A Typology of Elderly Migration Based on the Decision Making Process

Current understanding of migration by the elderly is limited by an inadequate theoretical framework. Explanations of migration in the general population are inappropriate in that they emphasize employment motivations for long distance moves and status, family life cycle, and life-style motivations at the local level. In the few existing statements about elderly migration older migrants are treated as a homogeneous group, a viewpoint contradicted by recent findings. This paper develops a conceptual framework of elderly migration from a decision making perspective. A typology is proposed which identifies subgroups of elderly migrants who are hypothesized to share similar migration motivations, socioeconomic and household characteristics, search patterns, and housing outcomes. The typology identifies areas of needed research and provides a framework for integrating the presently disparate empirical evidence.