Elderly immigration to Hungary

Sándor Illés, Demographic Research Institute, Budapest

In general, younger cohorts dominate in the international migration flows, but new form of migration develops, namely, the elderly migration. Parallel with the accelerating ageing process, the share of long-term elderly immigrants has been growing since the middle of nineties in Hungary. In the millennium every tenth long-term immigrants staying in Hungary was 60 years old and over. The share of persons over 60 gaining Hungarian citizenship also increased and stabilised around 12 per cent. The expansion of old-aged immigrants and new citizens is not advantageous under the prevailing legal rules in case of international migration policy preparing utility principles. If the elderly migration to Hungary becomes greater in level, it will be necessary to intervene into the spontaneous process. It is important to state that the emerging problems must be managed in a differentiated manner according to the sending countries.