Long-term care facilities and migration of elderly households in an aged society: Empirical analysis based on micro data

With a simultaneous increase in long-term care (LTC) facilities, elderly households in Japan are increasing with geographic dispersion. In this study, using the household panel survey, we examined the relationship between LTC facilities and the migration, particularly moving out, of elderly households from their respective houses and municipalities. The results show that house owners do not typically move out from their housing. Meanwhile, renters tend to stay in municipalities where LTC facilities are accessible. In particular, if the number of beds at LTC facilities per hundred elderly increases by 10 percentage points, the probability of the elderly to move decreases by about 0.35-0.37 percentage points. In municipalities where the new type of elderly facilities was introduced in 2011, owner households headed by people aged 60-65 years and renters headed by aged 60-65 years and 75 years and above reduced their residential mobility.