Introduction

Intra-European retirement migration is frequently considered a “privileged” migration because people relocate with a stable source of income (old-age pensions) and they have the right to use public Health and Social Services as locals do. However, from the few existing studies we know that life gets complicated for senior Europeans living abroad when care needs arise. This book is devoted to understanding retirement migration from the perspective of care needs and care resources. Chapters 2 and 3 situate the reader in the field of retirement migration and in the particular case of Spain as the main destination of this migration in Europe. Chapters 4 , 5 , 7 , and 8 show the variety of strategies that migrant retirees develop in order to provide themselves with the care services they need, exploring in depth the role of public social services, the family, and mutual aid networks/NGOs. Chapters 6 and 9 show the difficulties of public policies to guarantee the rights of retirees who decide to move to another country (i.e. difficulties of national welfare states to speak other languages or to intervene in other territories). Finally, Chap. 10 investigates to what extent the adventure of retirement migration ends with the return to the country of origin, and Chap. 11 puts all the pieces together with a reflection that links the micro, meso, and macro levels. Chapter 12 is an Epilogue, generously written for this book by Rafael Durán.