Mobile seniors and local economic development
Despite population ageing worldwide, little is known about the economic effects of retiree immigration. Using data from France over 1968–2008, this column documents retiree migration patterns and their implications for local economies. Around the statutory retirement age, retiree mobility increases, predominantly towards poorer and more rural areas. Their arrival leads to significant local economic gains, including increased employment, more construction, and higher local tax revenues. Mobile seniors have become a significant force for reducing the concentration of employment and production in space over the past decades.
The world population is ageing rapidly, particularly among advanced economies (OECD 2024). By 2050, nearly one-third of Europeans are expected to be over the age of 65. Public debates have focused largely on the fiscal implications of ageing societies (Koutsogeorgopoulou and Morgavi 2025). One overlooked dimension of demographic change is that the location choices of retirees follow different patterns than those of the working-age population.
In new research (Badilla-Maroto et al. 2026), we use detailed microdata from France covering the population for about five decades to document retiree migration patterns and the implications of senior in-migration for local economies. We find that retiree migration has become an important force in shaping regional economic development and the concentration of economic activity in space over the past decades.
Retirement triggers mobility in the opposite direction of the working-age
Migration rates generally decline with age, but retirement is a clear exception. Around the statutory retirement age in France, we find that mobility – and especially longer-distance domestic migration – increases as newly retired individuals relocate to areas with lower living costs, better amenities, or closer proximity to family.
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