Older persons and migration

Definition

Operational definition of older person:

The UN has adopted 60 years and over as a cutoff age for “older person” to extend the eligibility criteria for ageing-related development projects (UN, 2001 in WHO, 2002).

Chronological definition of older person:

The UN definition for older person is generally not used across the globe. Therefore, national practices differ. The commonly used definition of “older person” is associated with the age at which one begins to receive pension benefits (WHO, 2002). Thus, the definition of “older person” varies from country to country and between organizations. Most high-income countries use 65+ years to define “older persons”. This age threshold is arbitrary because pension schemes mostly use 60-65 years for eligibility (Roebuck, 1979).

Socio-culturally constructed definition of older Person:

 Besides the chronological definition that is  based on the age at which one begins to receive pensions benefits, there is also a socio-culturally constructed definition of “older person” that is based on the change in social roles (alterations in work patterns) and change in capabilities (such as senility or change in physical characteristics) (Glascock, 1980). However, the socio-culturally constructed definition of “older person” is difficult to incorporate into official statistics.  Older persons who fall into this definition, e.g. a 59-year old migrant whose social role has changed because of senility, are counted in the incorrect major age category (working age category: 19-64) in migration statistics and hence their needs are overlooked in policy making and planning.

The following general definitions are used in this thematic page:

Older migrant is any foreign-born person who either moved to the country of destination via, for example, a family reunification programme, at age 65 or older, moved in the past and then reached the retirement age in the country of destination, or was displaced by conflict at 65 age older or reached retirement age while displaced.

 Age-disaggregated data are any data on individuals (e.g. data on foreign-born) broken down by age. It is important to know age in migration data to reveal inequalities, monitor progress and inform policy makers on the age dynamics of migration processes.

Data sources

Data on older persons and migration, like migration information more generally, are collected through national population censuses, administrative registers (such as population registers, registers of foreigners and other special registers covering, for example, asylum seekers), household surveys, national surveys, individual surveys on a micro scale and qualitative studies.

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) consolidates data on the foreign-born or the foreign population by age, sex and origin into an international migrant stock dataset. Data on older migrants are presented within the 65 or older age category. This age category is broken down into the following age sub-categories: 65-69, 70-74 and 75+ years.

UN DESA’s Population Ageing and Development 2015 database presents data on four major themes: population size and age structure, health and mortality, socio-economic factors and government views and policies. A socio-economic indicator presents estimates on the percentage of migrants aged 65 and older. Data are available for all UN Member States.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has a database on Immigrants in OECD and non-OECD Countries (DIOC-E) that provides data for 100 destination countries and more than 200 countries of origin. Data are broken down by seven core variables: age, sex, duration of stay, labour market outcomes, field of study, place of birth and educational attainment. The latest data for DIOC-E-2010 were primarily based on data from the 2010 census round.

Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union, has a database on Population and Social Conditions which consolidates a dataset on asylum and managed migration from the EU Member States’ interior ministries, immigration agencies and National Statistical Offices. The dataset presents data on asylum and residence permits and the enforcement of immigration legislation. Data are partially disaggregated by age.

HelpAge International’s Global AgeWatch Index integrates internationally comparable data from sources including UN DESA, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, UNESCO and the Gallup World Poll on older persons’ health status and capability (such as educational attainment and employment status). This index measures the well-being of older persons. Although the Global AgeWatch index does not include an indicator that addresses the impact of urbanization and migration on the livelihoods of older persons left alone in the home village/country, HelpAge international has a consolidated list of empirical research evidence on the consequences of migration on those left behind in multigenerational households, based on individual surveys conducted in several origin countries.

The Oxford Institute of Population Ageing conducts research on population ageing in relation to migration, among other themes. The Institute's research is implemented by partner networks in Africa (AFRAN), Latin America (LARNA) and  Central and Eastern Europe (EAST). The institute has a repository of research reports based on the analysis of data compiled via the Global Ageing Survey 2005-2008 (GLAS) and qualitative studies.

 Beyond data collected via traditional methods, advanced technology has the potential to provide more nuanced information. For example, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) created virtual accounts using Blockchain technology for beneficiaries in the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan to upload monthly allowances to spend in the camp’s supermarket using an authorization code (Solon Ardittis, 2018). Scrutinizing the consumer behaviour of beneficiaries - in compliance with data protection principles - and combining these data with age-disaggregated survey data has the potential to address older persons’ actual needs.

Data strengths & limitations 

Harnessing the power of older age in the context of migration is essential to deconstruct the longstanding global narrative of ageing as a burden or older persons as passive agents of development. However, despite the acknowledged necessity to improve the quality, consistency and use of older cohorts of age-disaggregated data, too little is known about the situation of older migrants and older persons affected by demographic transformations. Data are limited due to the following challenges:

Estimates on older persons and older migrants are available, but not for all countries and areas of the world. For example, millions of older persons are not included in the internationally comparable datasets because data are missing in some countries of Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean and the Pacific (HelpAge International, 2015). These countries either have limited or no capacities to collect and disaggregate data by age. Therefore, the size of the older population is still incomplete.

 In the wake of extensive funding allocations to help “the most” vulnerable, namely children and women, older persons are often overlooked in policy and development programmes, even when they are counted in official statistics. Statistics alone are not sufficient to address the needs of older migrants and older persons left behind; policy makers and the development community also need to perceive older persons in migration processes as an equally important group as women and children.

 Data on internally displaced persons (IDPs) do not include older persons, who are often left behind when the rest of their community is displaced. Therefore, there is a need for solid data on the circumstances of older people in the context of internal displacement who might be subject to violence, intimidation or secondary impacts of natural hazards (Calvi-Parisetti, 2013).

There are also limitations in data collection methods in shelters for IDPs. Notwithstanding the apparent fact that the needs of older internally displaced people differ in terms of medical treatment, psycho-social support and nutrition, data are only occasionally collected separately for all age categories (ibid.). In addition, very little is known about the movement of internally displaced older persons from rural to urban settings.

There is relatively little research on migration and ageing, especially on the situations of older persons in south-south migration and the social costs of older persons left behind by migrants. Studies on scrutinizing policy responses to later-life migration are essential to reach the furthest behind first (UNFPA, 2012).

Data on older irregular migrants are not generally available. Therefore, it is essential to encourage more ethnographic studies to build an evidence base and hence gain a better understanding of the older age dynamics of irregular migration.