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Older people in Sweden without means: on the importance of age at immigration for being ‘twice poor’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2018

BJÖRN GUSTAFSSON Open the ORCID record for BJÖRN GUSTAFSSON [Opens in a new window] ,
HANNA MAC INNES  and
TORUN ÖSTERBERG
BJÖRN GUSTAFSSON*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn, Germany.
HANNA MAC INNES
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Gothenburg University Centre for Ageing and Health (AgeCap).
TORUN ÖSTERBERG
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
*
Address for correspondence: Björn Gustafsson, Department of Social Work, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 720, SE 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden E-mail: Bjorn.Gustafsson@socwork.gu.se
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Abstract

This paper examines immigrant poverty at an older age in Sweden with an emphasis on late-in-life immigrants. We analyse tax data for the entire Swedish-born and non-Swedish-born population. The poverty status of a household is assessed using two criteria. First, the disposable income of the household in which the person lived in 2007 must be below 60 per cent of the median equivalent income in Sweden as a whole. Second, to be classified as ‘twice poor’ a household's net assets must be below SEK 10,000. The results indicate that three out of four Swedish-born older persons were not classified as poor by either of the criteria, and only 1 per cent by both criteria. In contrast, among older persons born in low-income countries almost three out of four were classified as poor according to one of the criteria and not fewer than one in three according to both. Results of estimating logistic models indicate that the risk of being considered poor according to both criteria is strongly positively related to one's age at immigration. Our results indicate that it is crucial that migrants, particularly those who arrive after age 40, be better integrated into the Swedish labour market. To alleviate poverty among those migrants who are already of older age, increased transfers are probably the only possible alternative.

Keywords

Swedenimmigrantspoverty
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 39 , Issue 6 , June 2019 , pp. 1172 - 1199
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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