Participating institutes and researchers
HUN-REN Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Institute for Regional Studies
HUN-REN Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Geographical Intitute
Summary of the research
In the previous decades, (pre)retirement migration – involving migrants in their retired years and in their pre-retirement (50-64) age – has become a global phenomenon that also affects Hungary. Statistical data highlight the growing number of older adults among immigrants who settle in Hungary and identify two dominant groups of them. One consists of citizens from Western-Europe, who purchase real estate and spend time either in frequented resorts or in peripheral rural settings. The other group comprises ethnic Hungarian elderly from Transcarpathia/Ukraine who settle in north-eastern peripheries, close to the state border. While some research was conducted on German/Austrian real estate owners in the early 2000s, the growing number of elderly from Transcarpathia has only been documented in statistical analysis so far.
The goal of the proposed project is twofold: it attempts to reveal the similarities and differences between the Hungarian and global patterns of (pre)retirement migration, and it intends to understand the economic, social and cultural impacts of(pre)retirements migration from the perspective of both migrants and locals at household, local, and micro-regional level. The research will be carried out in two peripheral settings in Hungary. As (pre)retirement migration will remain a prevailing trend globally as well as in Hungary, our proposed multidisciplinary, exploratory research is timely and relevant not only for academia, but policy as well. It will pay a special attention to the developmental potentials of (pre)retirement migration in peripheral rural settlements and regions struggling with marginality.
