AGE points out the barriers of Older Migrants and Access to health and long-term care services

Novembre 2008

As Europe heads into the 21st century two major social developments are increasing in importance and intensity across the continent: the ageing of populations and international migration. Concerning the latter, whether looked at in the short or long term, immigration will be the unique factor in demographic growth and the reproduction of European populations will be ensured through this continuous intermixture of nationalities. European governments must cope with these realities, not only the immigration flux but above all, the means of integration.

Another reality in today’s Europe is the fact that migrant populations are also ageing in a foreign land and the challenges to meet their needs become more urgent. Although family help remains strong, current trends in family care throughout Europe are likely to affect migrant families as well and therefore it is important to manage broad access to general services, and in some cases to create targeted services for specific minority ethnic groups.

In Europe, older people’s migration can be seen from two different perspectives: older retired people who migrate to another EU member state to live during their retirement years and older third country nationals’ migrants who usually migrate with their families for economic reasons. In both cases the challenges of accessing health and long-term care services are immense and even though their needs might be similar, the way to meet those needs may be different. In fact, the term older migrant “hides a plurality of very different situations, biographies and backgrounds (…) it is therefore important to define and contextualise each time what is meant exactly within this concept, in order to understand what his/her care needs might be ”.

In this document AGE points out the main barriers of Older Migrants and Access to health and Long Term care services and outlines recommendations to the European Union as a whole and to Member States in particular to facilitate access to health and social care of their older migrants.

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