What changes first when you move
Imagine you have just moved to a new country. What changes first, and what takes years?
No study measures the full order. Pieces of the answer come from different studies, and they point in the same direction.
Walking changes first. In the 2025 Nature study, people who moved between US cities changed their daily steps right after the move. The change was still there three months later.
Your circle changes next. A 2025 survey compared 4,995 Dutch retirees living abroad with 1,338 who stayed home. Those abroad were socially lonelier, with a smaller circle and less sense of community. They were not emotionally lonelier.
The plan changes after that. In 2021, researchers surveyed 6,110 Dutch retirees living in 40 countries and then checked where they lived through 2024.
Plans and moves back home, Dutch retirees abroad (2021 to 2024)
| Question | Result |
|---|---|
| Planned to move back within three years | 5% |
| Actually moved back within three years | nearly 9% |
| Certain they would stay abroad, but returned | 4% |
| Intended to return, and did | 62% |
| Projected to return before age 80, if trends continue | about one in three |
The last row is a projection by the study authors, not a count.
Two things were linked to returning. One was poor health. The other was loneliness. Retirees with a partner, children or close friends in the Netherlands also returned more often, even without planning to.
Ties in the new country worked the other way. Retirees with a partner, children or friends there were less likely to move back.
The authors suggest that retirees underestimate how much their social network will matter when deciding where to live.
Health outcomes move more slowly. A 2018 review found that migrants overall had about 30% lower death rates than the people of their new country. The gap narrowed over time. Another article in this series covers that.
This does not say a move goes badly. Most of the Dutch retirees stayed. It says a plan made before the move and life after it can differ, in how much people walk, who they see and how their health holds up.
What would you want in place in your first month? Tell us in the comments. Someone may be planning theirs.
Sources we read
Althoff and others, Countrywide natural experiment links built environment to physical activity, Nature, 2025. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09321-3
Savas, Henkens and Kalmijn, Trouble in paradise? Loneliness among international retirement migrants, Psychology and Aging, 2025. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/pag-pag0000880.pdf
Spaan, Henkens and Kalmijn, return migration of Dutch retirement migrants, Population Studies, 2025 (summary by Population Europe). https://www.population-europe.eu/research/popdigests/unexpected-return-international-retirement-migrants
Original article, Population Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/00324728.2025.2510971
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