Migration studies have often analyzed inequalities (e.g. social exclusion, healthcare access, and well-being) faced by older migrants aging in place or by the elderly left behind. Yet, in recent years, aging populations are increasingly mobile after retirement. This new trend enables the study of diverse migration patterns of elderly (retirement/lifestyle migration, zero generation ‘grandparenting’, care migration).

International retirement migrants are not a homogeneous category and post-retirement mobility (PRM) trajectories are dynamic, reflecting the interplay between individual factors, life-course events, family care obligations, and structural constraints. Adopting a mobility lens, our project investigates the current transnationalization of aging as an expression of new diversities and related transformations of social life. It addresses the following research questions:

What emerging transnational mobility patterns do retirees deploy and what drives them?
What kind of transnational lifestyles do they develop and what social dynamics do PRMs generate?
What consequences do PRMs have on local communities and social policies in destination countries?

In addition to the collection and the analysis of new survey data about transnational mobilities of population aged 64+ in Switzerland, two case studies will be conducted, based on ethnographic observation and semi-structured interviews with Swiss retirees in an EU (Spain) and a non-EU (Morocco) destination country.