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Abstract
By and large, the attention and resources of governments, NGOs, and humanitarian actors have been directed at children and working-age displaced people, ignoring the needs and perspectives of displaced elders. Africa is the continent with the largest number of displaced people aged 60 and over. To help achieve equity and better representation for this latter group, it appears essential to delineate and clarify the evidence base on displaced elders in Africa. We systematically searched bibliographic databases in the social and health sciences. One hundred forty-one papers met our inclusion criteria globally, of which 16 were based on data collected in African countries. The scoping review establishes that the main focus has been the specific vulnerabilities faced by older African displaced people, particularly with regard to physical health and the erosion of social support systems. Contrary to research on older displaced populations elsewhere, studies on the mental health of displaced elders in Africa are lacking. Similarly, more priority should be given to phenomenological and life course approaches to better understand the lived experience of displaced African elders.

By and large, the attention and resources of governments, NGOs, and humanitarian actors have been directed at children and working-age displaced people, ignoring the needs and perspectives of displaced elders. Africa is the continent with the largest number of displaced people aged 60 and over. To help achieve equity and better representation for this latter group, it appears essential to delineate and clarify the evidence base on displaced elders in Africa. We systematically searched bibliographic databases in the social and health sciences. One hundred forty-one papers met our inclusion criteria globally, of which 16 were based on data collected in African countries. The scoping review establishes that the main focus has been the specific vulnerabilities faced by older African displaced people, particularly with regard to physical health and the erosion of social support systems. Contrary to research on older displaced populations elsewhere, studies on the mental health of displaced elders in Africa are lacking. Similarly, more priority should be given to phenomenological and life course approaches to better understand the lived experience of displaced African elders.

Transnational ageing presents fundamental challenges to nationally bounded welfare states, which historically have tended to be organised according to a logic of solidarity among nationals and permanent residents of a given state territory. Nonetheless, the Dutch and French governments have taken steps to break this link between solidarity and territorially bounded consumption of welfare, by providing lifelong income security for older migrants who return to countries of origin on a permanent or semi-permanent basis. This article asks what motivated policymakers to initially develop these novel policy tools for transnational ageing which contradict the territorial logic of the welfare state. Based on interviews with key stakeholders and available official documents, we find that in both France and the Netherlands, policymakers' initial motivations can be characterised as rather benign, if not beneficent: to facilitate return for those who are willing but unable to afford it. However, two types of obstacle have impeded the delivery of such policies. Non-discrimination clauses and free movement rights in EU law may make it difficult to implement policies for specific categories of older migrants. Electoral realpolitik may also lead policymakers to shelve policies which benefit older migrants, in a European context where public opinion on immigration is less and less favourable. Nonetheless, opposition may be neutralised by the budgetary advantages of these schemes, since older returnees do not consume public services such as healthcare.