Return migration of the elderly in the USA: 1955-1960 and 1965-1970

Abstract

This paper reports on changes in the volume and rate of return migration among the population aged 65 and over in the USA for the periods 1955-1960 and 1965-1970. Based on the earlier findings of Long and Hansen and of Eldridge, it is not surprising to find that return migration is not primarily a movement of persons returning to their place of birth to retire. Only about 5% of all return migrants in the USA are of retirement age. Return migration is more important in the migration stream of the elderly than in the total migration stream, and the rate of return migration increased at a greater rate for older persons than it did for the population as a whole.