Major Theoretical Perspectives on Elderly Migration

This paper presents the main ideas and empirical evidence of four major theoretical perspectives on elderly migration: post-retirement developmental perspective, life-course perspective, intergenerational perspective, and economic perspective. Although most of the empirical evidence is from the United States and Canada, most of the ideas discussed in this article may be useful to other countries that may have different levels of development and different cultural traditions. The main points are that these perspectives are essential for achieving a comprehensive understanding of elderly migration, and that the obsession with any one of them is likely to lead to misinterpretation and misunderstanding.