The diversity of older migrants and their intentions to return: The case of China

Abstract

This study sheds light on the importance of considering the diversity of older migrants when addressing the question of return in later life. Taking advantage of the China-City General Household Survey (China-CGHS) data set, which offers unique information on migration history, this study reveals that different types of older migrants hold different attitudes toward return. People who migrated in later life due to family reasons, namely family-oriented retirement (FOR) migrants, expressed the highest intentions to return permanently, followed by amenity-seeking retirement (ASR) migrants and former migrants who have aged in place (AIP). This disparity can be attributed to significant differences in their sociodemographic characteristics, levels of place attachment, places of origin and destination, and the location of family members. However, even after accounting for these differences, variations in intentions to return persist. Furthermore, compared with FOR migrants, AIP migrants are significantly more likely to express an intention to return if they have completed a secondary education. These results suggest that the type of older migrants not only directly affects intentions to return but also shapes how educational attainment affects these intentions. They highlight the role of migratory pathways and migration motivations in the decision-making process of return in later life.