A Comparison of Rural Older Adult Retiree In-Migration in Scotland and the United States: Implications for Health Care

Abstract

<blockquote>Using Scotland’s national model for older adult care as an example, lessons learned about older adult care and the impact of retirees on rural Scottish communities may have relevance for rural older adult care in the United States.</blockquote> <h4>EXCERPT</h4> <p>Older adult in-migration has caused demographic changes in some rural communities (Johnson, 2004). During the 1990s, retirement designation counties in the United States experienced significant in-migration of older adults in comparison to other nonmetropolitan areas (Johnson, 2004). Retirement areas are those where older adults in-migrate for retirement. For example, retirement designation counties in the United States are defined by the growth of their older population. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, identified 277 nonmetro retirement designations (13.5% of all counties in the United States). In these counties, the population age 60 and older grew by 15% due to in-migration in the 1990s (Beale, 2005). Like the United States, rural Scotland has experienced the dual phenomenon of out-migration of the young to urban areas for work and education, with many of these individuals returning to rural Scotland at retirement. A consequence of rural retirement in-migration is the relatively large proportion of older adults living in rural Scotland (Philip, Gilbert, Mauthner, & Phimister, 2003). As rural older adult migratory patterns vary, understanding the implications of retiree migration patterns is important to anticipate the health needs of rural communities and the older adults who live there.</p>