The Relationship Between Loneliness and Migration Among Belgian Older Adults

Feelings of severe loneliness negatively affect the quality of life of older adults. Although research has repeatedly shown that immigrants are more confronted with loneliness due to various migration-related characteristics, little is known about the specific relation between loneliness and generational status. Therefore, based on the sixth wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, this study investigates the relation between loneliness and migration among older adults of 50 years or older in Belgium. In this respect, this study goes beyond an immigrant versus non-immigrant dichotomy by differentiating between first and second generation immigrants and by taking into account the specific region of origin. The results show that not only first but also second generation immigrants have higher loneliness levels than natives, which implies that various migration-related factors that correlate with loneliness are passed on from the first to the second generation. This difference in loneliness levels is mainly explained by a worse health situation of people with a migration background, more than by specific demographic or social network characteristics. As a result, the enhancement of the health situation would not only result in lower loneliness levels of people with and without a migration background, but it would also reduce the loneliness inequality between those two groups.