MELBOURNE, 16 September 2023: India tops among the three countries receiving remittances in 2020, says the World Migration Report 2022. It received $ 83.15 billion, China got $ 60 billion and Mexico received 16 billion in 2020.
Available data reflect an overall increase in remittances in recent decades, from $126 billion in 2000 to $702 billion in 2020. Despite predictions of a large decline in international remittances due to COVID-19, 2020 saw only a slight drop (2.4%) from the 2019 global total.
International remittances are financial or in-kind transfers made by migrants directly to families or communities in their countries of origin.
The World Bank compiles global data on international remittances, notwithstanding the myriad data gaps, definitional differences and methodological challenges in compiling accurate statistics. Its data, however, do not capture unrecorded flows through formal or informal channels, and the actual magnitude of global remittances are therefore likely to be larger than available estimates.
Who received the money
In 2020, India, China, Mexico, the Philippines and Egypt were (in descending order) the top five remittance recipient countries, although India and China were well above the rest, with total inward remittances exceeding $83 billion and $59 billion, respectively.
Where the money came from
High-income countries are almost always the main source of remittances. For decades, the United States has consistently been the top remittance-sending country, with a total outflow of $68 billion in 2020, followed by the United Arab Emirates ($43.2 billion), Saudi Arabia ($34.6 billion), Switzerland ($27.96 billion), and Germany ($22 billion).
Since 2000, IOM has been producing world migration reports. The World Migration Report 2022, the eleventh in the world migration report series, has been produced to contribute to increased understanding of migration throughout the world. This new edition presents key data and information on migration as well as thematic chapters on highly topical migration issues, and is structured to focus on two key contributions for readers: Part I: key information on migration and migrants (including migration-related statistics); and Part II: balanced, evidence-based analysis of complex and emerging migration issues.
Main takeaways from the report
- Globally there were 281 million international migrants in 2020.
- There were 169 million labour migrants in 2019 & 164 million in 2020.
- South Asia’s global share in total migrants is nearly 40 per cent.
- The South Asia Gulf Migratory corridor is the world’s largest migrant corridor.
- Other findings read out as “migration is not uniform across the world and is shaped by economic, geographic, demographic and other factors, resulting in distinct migration patterns, such as migration corridors developed over many years”.
FAQs on the World Migration Report series
