Blog
The Scale of Remittances
1st April 2011
Remittances are the sending of money to people in another country. Despite a recent dip because of the global recession, total remittance flows have grown in the world economy over the longer-term as the scale of migration between countries has grown. For many lower-income nations, remittance income is now a sizeable contribution to their Gross National Income (GNI) The World Bank estimates that there are over 250 million people living overseas who send some of their earned income back - remittances to all countries topped $305bn in 2008. The biggest single recipients of remittances are India, Mexico and China but measured as a share of national income is probably a better way of considering their relative importance. The World Bank calculated that in 2007, remittances as a share of GDP was particularly high in these countries:
Tajikistan (45%) Moldova (38%) Tonga (35%) Lesotho (29%) Honduras (25%)
Our Timetric charts provide some data background to the importance of remittances
Data from Timetric.
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Workers’ remittances and compensation of employees from Timetric
India
Data from Timetric.
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Workers’ remittances and compensation of employees from Timetric
Mexico
Data from Timetric.
To view this graph, please install Adobe Flash Player.
Workers’ remittances and compensation of employees from Timetric
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.