International Retirement Migration within Europe became relevant in the 1990s. It involves senior European citizens from Central and Northern European countries (mainly the UK, Germany and the Nordic countries) relocating seasonally or permanently to Southern countries such as Malta, Portugal and Spain. This migration is very similar to the ‘snowbird’ movement in the US, which since 1950 has involved people moving after retirement to warmer areas of the country such as Florida or Arizona (Mateyka & He, 2022). Spain is the main retirement destination in Europe. In 2024 close to 800.000 senior Europeans over 60 years old were registered as Spanish residents, and the number is steadily increasing over the last 25 years (Graph 1).
Graph 1
Source: own elaboration with data from Local Registers. National Statistics Spain (www.ine.es). Data corresponds to the 1st January of each year. European foreigners are defined as members of EU. Since 2020 the UK is not part of the EU but for this Graph we have retained UK citizens. Data access: on 25/06/2025.
International Retirement Migration has always been considered to be driven by lifestyle considerations rather than by economic motivations (Benson & O’Reilly, 2009). Retirement migrants both in the US and in Europe are searching for a new life in which social interaction and outdoor activities play a prominent role. European retirement migrants are also motivated by a quest for ‘adventure’ and a need to step outside their comfort zone. Unlike US ‘snowbirds’ who stay in the same country, migration within Europe involves moving to another country where social norms and language differs. Adaptation can certainly be an adventure.
However, this new life requires a particular context. Warm weather and security are paramount when choosing a destination. A warm climate enables people to spend more time outdoors and enables social interaction. For those in their 80s and 90s, mild weather facilitates maintaining daily routines, going shopping or simply meeting friends for a stroll on the beach (Gavanas & Calzada, 2016). Institutional security, low crime rates and a social network of EU retirees are also important.
In all destination countries, retirement migrants tend to live in specific areas. The existence of well-established communities of European retirees organized in clubs and associations is always mentioned by retirement migrants as a ‘safety net’ (Barbosa et al. 2021). Graph 2 shows the strong concentration of foreign seniors in Spain, particularly in the islands and a few coastal provinces.
Graph 2. Foreign residents aged 65+ as a percentage of total residents aged 65+ (2022)
Source: Continuous Register Statistics, Spanish National Statistics Institute
Retirement migration and public care and health services
Nationals of any of the EU/European Economic Area (EEA) countries can gain access to social benefits and services in another member country once they are registered as residents.
Accessing public healthcare is particularly straightforward: EU citizens can access primary and emergency care in another country’s NHS for short stays of less than three months, even if they are not residents (they need to obtain the European Health Insurance Card prior to travelling). Access to the full range of NHS services (long-term care, specialists services) requires registration as resident, which is an easy procedure carried out at the Registro de Extranjeros.
In Spain, Social Services have a more restrictive access criteria: people must have been registered as residents for at least five years before they can claim benefits. Elderly-care services include direct care provision such as help with cooking, cleaning or shopping; as well as cash benefits to hire private carers or services, and access to public facilities such as day centres or elderly care homes. A previous evaluation of dependency levels is carried out by public professionals, and co-payments are made according to the personal income.
For EU/EEA citizens, registering as a resident is the gateway to accessing public health and care services, but this involves deregistering from their home country and losing the rights attached to residence there. EU countries vary greatly in the generosity of their welfare policies and the rights associated with residency versus citizenship, as well as in how they treat their diaspora (i.e. what benefits are allowed to ‘transport’ to other countries). Even though registration in the destination area is compulsory, studies suggest that many EU seniors never register in the destination country.
Use of public healthcare is widespread among retirement migrants, either as the only provider of health services or in combination with travel/private insurance. This is not the case for Social Services, which are unfamiliar to retirement migrants and rarely used, despite the fact that substantial numbers of European retirees are over 80 years old (see Graph 1).
For non-EU retirees, access to public services is much more restricted. If they wish to reside in Spain, they must obtain a non-lucrative visa. To obtain this visa, they must demonstrate that they have sufficient income (savings or pension) to cover their expenses in Spain and that they have purchased private health insurance to cover all their medical needs in Spain during this period. The visa is initially issued for one year and can be renewed if the conditions are met. After 5 years it can be converted into permanent residency. Although permanent residency would give access to public health and care services, transformation is not straightforward.
The private market for health and care services
Private healthcare oriented towards international residents has expanded in Spain, particularly in areas with high numbers of retirement migrants such as the Canary and Balearic Islands and Málaga.
Retirement migrants who are officially living in Spain use private health care for certain issues, but rely on the public system for more serious or long-term treatments. EU retirement migrants who choose not to register (even though this is illegal) tend to purchase private insurance or, if they maintain a residence and a social network in their home country, return for treatment and follow-up care. Nationals of non-EU countries completely rely on private health insurance, since this is one of the requirements to obtain a residence permit.
Private elderly care homes geared towards international retirees are rare and expensive, even for those with good pensions or savings. Private elderly care homes for Spanish nationals are abundant, but they lack translators and adhere to Spanish social norms and schedules (e.g. meal-times). They are mainly used by Spanish people with a high level of dependency. They are not the preferred choice for foreign seniors in Spain. Instead, when they start having autonomy issues, they devise ‘bricolage’ approach to create a ‘mosaic’ of care-resources (Soronellas et al., 2021). When they need care services, most retirement migrants prefer to contract these privately from welfare providers who speak their language and understand their cultural expectations concerning care. In the destinations favored by retirement migrants, many professionals from their home countries offer their services. However, these professionals charge higher fees than Spanish providers, and the ‘mosaic of care’ usually involves other actors, such as family members in the home country, friends in the destination place, non-profit organizations and, only as a last resort, public social services.
Family involvement from afar can be highly significant. Children and relatives can arrange services, resolve bureaucratic issues and maintain frequent virtual contact (Hall, 2024). Friends and acquaintances at the destination can form strong self-help networks, and NGOs that are created, run and devoted to retirement migrants are key to creating a mosaic of care that works. While NGOs may offer direct care, more often act as mediators and advisors connecting different providers (including public services) with the senior residents.
Under-use of care and social services by EU retirement migrants in Spain
The under-use of public elderly care services by retirement migrants is widespread. There are two main reasons for this: under-registration and a lack of knowledge of the Spanish system.
On the one hand, retirement migrants who are not registered as Spanish residents and who start experiencing autonomy issues cannot rely on the public system because it requires five years of previous residency before they can make a claim. They wait too long to register, and by the time they do, their needs cannot wait five years to be met.
On the other hand, many EU seniors who are registered residents and could benefit from the public system do not do so because they know very little about the services on offer and how to access them. Reluctance to use the public system appears to stem from stigma (perceiving it as low quality and intended only for impoverished individuals), distrust of Spanish institutions and administrative procedures, and language and cultural barriers.
A lack of information and distrust of the Spanish administration are being addressed thanks to the work of the authorities and NGOs. The language and cultural barriers are more problematic. Most retirement migrants never learn to speak Spanish, even after years of living in the country. Sharing a language and culture with their carers gives IRMs a sense of confidence and security when receiving care in a context of dependency.
Some references:
Barbosa, B., Santos, C. A., & Santos, M. (2021). Tourists with migrants’ eyes: the mediating role of tourism in international retirement migration. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 19(4), 530-544.
Gavanas, A., & Calzada, I. (2016). Multiplex migration and aspects of precarization: Swedish retirement migrants to Spain and their service providers. Critical Sociology, 42(7-8), 1003-1016.
Hall, K. (2024). Transnational Family Care and British International Retirement Migrants in Spain. In: Calzada, I. (eds) Retirement Migrants and Dependency. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-69122-5_8
Mateyka, P. J., & He, W. (2022). Domestic Migration of Older Americans: 2015–2019. U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, P23-218, U.S. Government Publishing Office, Washington, DC.
O’Reilly, K. & Benson, M. (2009). Lifestyle Migration: Expectations, Aspirations and Experiences. Routledge: London, UK.
Soronellas, M, et al. (2021). Hombres, Cuidados y Ancianidad: Un Bricolaje de Ayudas, un Mosaico de Recursos de Cuidados (Cataluña, España). In Castro, A, Contreras, RH and Contreras, J (eds.), Ganarse la Vida. La Reproducción Social en el Mundo Contemporáneo. Ciudad de México: UNAM, pp. 209–235