Retirement as a process of demographic, economic and social transition, has different characteristics depending on the country. In Côte d’Ivoire, retirees form a heterogeneous group with internal diversity. Indeed, the transition to retirement is experienced differently by individuals. This article aims to describe the mechanisms of identity construction among retirees from Bouaké in order to understand why retirement goes well for a minority and difficult for the vast majority. We conducted a semi-structured interviews with 205 retirees using the non-random technique of volunteers in the city of Bouaké.

The results show that 80% of retirees are men and 20% women. In terms of age groups, 76.09% are between 60-70 years old, 21.94% are between 70 – 80 years old and 1.95% are 80 years old and over. Men have 1 to 16 children, an average of 8, while women have 1 to 8 children, an average of 4 children.