Return migration is an important phenomenon that involves a large share of all migrants, and has great potential for the enhancement of economic development, for instance through remittances and investments by migrants who are still abroad, and “brain gain” when migrants return with working experience from their former host countries. This paper deals with return migration, by refugee immigrants as well as labor migrants and retirees, with reference to empirical evidence from Sweden. Return migration from Sweden, as well as from other western societies, has decreased considerably over the last decades, primarily due to a change in the composition of immigrant populations. Labor migrants, who dominated immigration prior to the recruitment halt in the early 1970s, generally display high rates of return migration, frequently higher than 50 percent. Refugees, on the other hand, who have dominated immigration from the 1970s onwards, have displayed low rates of return migration, primarily due to the security situation in their home countries. Analyses of Swedish population register data shows that return migrants tend to be positively selected in terms of income and education, which is beneficial for origin countries. However, migration tends to be positively selected in general and therefore, temporary migration has high potential for enhancing economic development, in origin countries as well as in destination countries. Destination countries benefit from a positively selected immigration, whereas origin countries benefit from positively selected return migration. Future labor migration flows, such as labor migration from new to old member states of the EU, are therefore expected to be positively selected, both when it comes to immigration and return migration, and return migration rates will probably be relatively high. Refugee crises in the 1990s led to a change in the direction of policy discussions, from an emphasis on permanent residence rights for refugees to a focus on temporary protection and repatriation. The Swedish experience shows that political improvements in refugee source countries cannot be expected to result in large-scale return migration, unless the changes are accompanied by economic stability. The difference between Chileans and Poles, regarding their migratory response to democratization at home, can be attributed to large difference in economic opportunities for return migrants in Chile relative to Poland in the years after 1990. Positive income selectivity among return migrants indicates that return migration is resource demanding and thus, marginalized immigrants will have worse opportunities for return migration. Institutional arrangements regarding refugee reception and measures for economic integration of refugees are therefore crucial for societies that want to encourage return migration to former refugee sources. Temporary residence models are inefficient when it comes to economic integration of immigrants and may undermine their own purpose, i.e. return migration by refugees. Permanent residence models, in contrast, allow migrants to be more efficient regarding host country-specific investments and, as a result, such models are more likely to provide economic integration of immigrants and increase opportunities for return migration. (Less)
During the past decade there has been a surge of interest in the living arrangements of older persons. The theme has been part of the demography and sociology of the family but only as an outcome subordinate to the broader issue of household and family organization. It has received new impetus owing to three interrelated factors: first the rapidity and demographic inevitability of ageing in the developed world and its even more accelerated pace in countries that have experienced recent demographic transitions; secondly the increasing availability of data and deployment of procedures to extract information from older sources and to analyse new ones; and thirdly an upsurge of research in the economics of intergenerational transfers an area that for a long time has been inextricably linked to the explanation of fertility changes but that now paradoxically experiences a revival in order to understand the consequences rather than the causes of fertility change. The present paper takes stock of recent developments in the literature summarizes key findings provides a synthesis of theories and models and reviews issues pertaining to statistical inference. It also suggests a road map for further research and identifies what appear to be the most salient problematic issues and likely solutions. (excerpt)
Social security systems have become major elements of social development in the twentieth century with particularly important effects on the well-being of the older groups of society. The past 25 years alone have witnessed dramatic improvements in living standards among the elderly in Europe and the United States of America combined with similar shifts in pension payments and the maturing of pension plans. In fact in those countries there has been a substantial decline in the proportion of those covered by social assistance who are elderly. Although less markedly than in the more developed countries social security has also played an important role in the development process of many Latin American countries. More recently however Governments in developed as well as developing countries have come to view changes to the regulation and laws of their social security systems as key factors in the reform of the State. In truth the social security crisis which includes the reform of the pension system has become one of the world’s most debated social policy issues at the end of the twentieth century. (excerpt)
Living arrangements are influenced by a variety of factors including marital status financial well-being health status and family size and structure as well as cultural traditions such as kinship patterns the value placed on living independently or with family members the availability of social services and social support and the physical features of housing stock and local communities. In turn living arrangements affect life satisfaction health and most importantly for those living in the community the chances of institutionalization. One’s living arrangements are dynamic they change over the life course adapting to changing life circumstances. Some significant observations emerge from a cross-national comparison of living arrangements of the older population. First women in developed countries are much more likely than men to live alone as they age; older men are likely to live in family settings typically with a spouse. Secondly there has been an increase in the proportion of the older population that is living alone in developed countries. Thirdly both older men and women in developing countries usually live with adult children. Fourthly the use of non-family institutions for care of the frail elderly varies widely around the world but is relatively low everywhere. (excerpt)
The rapid growth in the number of older people worldwide has created an unprecedented global demographic revolution. Improvements in hygiene and water supply and control of infectious diseases during the past century have greatly reduced the risk of premature death. As a consequence the proportion of the world’s population aged 60 and over is increasing more rapidly than in any previous era. In 1950 there were about 200 million people aged 60 and over throughout the world. There are now about 580 million and by 2025 the number of people over the age of 60 is expected to reach 1.2 billion. For the first time in history the majority of those who have survived childhood in all countries can expect to live past 50 years of age. Even in the world’s poorest countries those who survive the diseases of infancy and childhood have a very good chance of living to be grandparents. This suggests that the number of older people in developing countries will more than double over the next quarter century reaching 850 million by 2025 that is 12 per cent of their total population. By 2050 the proportion of older people is expected to increase to 20 percent. (excerpt)
