[Potentials of elderly migrants]

Re-migration and immigration are the causes for the continual fluctuation within the migrant population. It is, however, currently foreseeable that the elderly migrant population living in Germany will steadily increase. Because of the large degree of heterogeneity among the elderly migrant population in Germany, the following report will be limited to a discussion of those groups of migrant workers, who originate from former recruiting countries. These groups will constitute the majority of elderly migrants in the coming years. Among the first generation of migrants, some groups have extensive ethnic social networks. This is mostly the case with respect to the migrants from Turkey. These have access to their own ethnic infrastructure, and, due to this fact, there is little need for the initiation of social contacts outside their own ethnic context. Generally, they prefer, as do other elderly foreign workers, to remain in their cultural niches with their own religious institutions and migrant organizations. In comparison to the German population, the families of the first generation of migrants have more children and live more often in multigenerational households. Under the conditions of migration and in a foreign cultural context, the family fulfills a function of social-emotional support. Migrants possess a high potential for mobility. They commute between their homeland and the land of immigration. For some, this is a transitional strategy in order to reach a final decision, either to return to their homeland or to stay in Germany. For others, it is a long-term solution that enables them to make use of each country's respective advantages.