Seeking Care in the Neighboring Country: Transnational Care for Older People between Slovenia and Croatia

This study examines retirement care migration from Slovenia to Croatia, utilizing the concepts of the care gap, transnationalization of care, and retirement migration. Drawing on interviews with key stakeholders, media analysis, and institutional review, the research focuses on two post-transition countries on the periphery of the European Union, both experiencing rapid population aging, high rates of poverty in old age, and neoliberal restructuring of their welfare states. The analysis reveals that retirement care migration is driven, on the one hand, by the scarcity of public services in Slovenia and the increasing individualization of care costs, which disproportionately burden families in lower socio-economic strata. On the other hand, Croatia’s privatization and deregulation of care have led to the emergence of "family homes"—a unique combination of market-based institutional care and informal family care. These family homes, as the most affordable form of care, cater to both Croatian and Slovenian older adults, effectively filling the care gap for those with limited financial resources. The study highlights that the marketization of care in Croatia complements the inadequacies of public care provision in Slovenia, giving rise to what can be described as "precarious hybrid transnational care." Care for Slovenian retirees in Croatia is hybrid, as it operates under two distinct logics: Slovenian citizenship grants access to healthcare services, while market mechanisms govern access to residential care in Croatia. It is transnational, occurring across two countries and necessitating regular cross-border movements, and it is precarious due to the lower quality of care in Croatia compared to Slovenia. This situation illustrates how older people in need of care are increasingly treated not as citizens entitled to equal rights, but as consumers, forced into a globalized care market characterized by stratification, precariousness, deregulation, and dependence on purchasing power.