The number of elderly people with a refugee or migrant background is rising across Europe, posing new challenges in health and care sectors. In Denmark, elders with a refugee background comprise an especially vulnerable group, often living in poverty and alone. This vulnerability can be exacerbated by social marginalisation and health problems, and the poverty is expected to worsen due to new Danish rules around accessing public pensions.

A new article in a magazine issued by the Danish Gerontological Society compares available data on elderly people aged 65-74 living in Denmark: those with ethnic minority backgrounds against those with a native Danish background. 

In total, five percent of the 70-year olds and ten percent of the 60-year olds living in Denmark were born outside Denmark. This is a situation Denmark does not have much experience with, as the first large groups of migrants from countries outside Europe arrived in the late 1960s, and so these form the first group of retired people with a foreign background. Many people in these elderly groups have never learnt the Danish language and are isolated from Danish society, unlike those who arrived more recently - often at a younger age - and for whom integration efforts have been more successful.

The study found that almost all Danish men were working at the age of 55, whereas only half of the two migrant groups examined were providing for themselves at this age. The difference was even more significant among women. Further, only 1% of Danish men were found to have an income below the poverty line, while 17% of the men in the refugee group did. Poverty was also found to be much more common for women with a minority background than for their male counterparts, affecting 26% of Turkish women but only 10% of Turkish men. By contrast, there is no difference between elderly Danish men and women when it comes to the rate of poverty.

A full retirement pension generally keeps people above the poverty limit, but people with refugee and migrant backgrounds often do not meet the criteria of 40 years spent in the Danish labour market and so only receive a percentage of the full pension. Refugees and migrants also tend to be employed in low-income jobs and are rarely able to build up private pensions. Until January 2021, refugees were exempt from the criteria of 40 years of work in Denmark, in recognition of the circumstances often forcing them to leave their country at an adult age, but this has recently been changed.

The study concludes that elderly people from minority and refugee backgrounds are facing several serious disadvantages in comparison with elderly Danish natives, especially refugees and especially women. It is likely that this gap will increase further in the near future, once new legislation has had time to made an impact.

The full study provides further data and comparison on the length of stay, employment, poverty, family patterns and accommodation of elderly people in Denmark. Read more here.