Remittances can play a crucial role for developing countries by providing the resources necessary for growth. While it was predicted that COVID-19 may have a severely detrimental impact on the levels of financial flow from international migrants, the actual impact was insignificant. However, some countries still experienced a dramatic drop in the amount of personal remittances received. In terms of the ranking of recipient countries, since 1995 India has almost always topped this list.
In 2020, the overall amount of remittances sent to low or middle-income countries by international migrants was US$540 billion. Despite the pessimistic forecast driven by pandemic-related measures, in 2020 the remittances were only US$8 billion less than in 2019. In 2021, remittances to low- and middle-income countries were estimated to have reached US$589 billion, 7.3% more compared to 2020.
Overall financial remittances reached US$702 billion in 2020. Although the predictions indicated a 20% reduction in global international remittances, actual data has revealed only a slight decline of 2.4%, compared to US$719 billion in 2019.
While recently some countries have recorded a strong inflow of remittances, other economies have experienced a weaker flow of money from their international migrants. For example, in Seychelles, the amount of personal remittances received decreased from around US$23.6 million in 2019 to US$9.9 million in 2020. In Bulgaria, the level of personal remittances received declined to about US$954 million in 2020 compared to around US$2.3 billion in 2019. On the other hand, in Bangladesh, the personal remittances received increased to US$21.75 billion in 2020 compared to US$18.364 billion in 2019, and in Bhutan, the personal remittances received grew from around US$56 million in 2019 to US$83 million in 2020.
Overall globally, the amount of personal remittances received reached US$648.64 billion in 2020 compared to US$1.929 billion in 1970. In 2019, the amount of personal remittances received was US$656.761 billion.
Fig.1. Personal remittances, received (current US$) – 1970-2020
Source: World Bank
Listing the top 10 remittance recipient countries since 1995, India has led this ranking for almost the entire period. China made its way onto the list in the 2000s, becoming the second-largest recipient since 2010. Other countries on the list during this entire period were the Philippines, Germany, France, and Mexico.
At the same time, high-income economies remain the source of remittances with the U.S. having led this ranking for decades. In 2020, the country had an overall outflow of US$68 billion. The U.S. is followed by the United Arab Emirates with US$43.2 billion outflows, Saudi Arabia with $34.6 billion, Switzerland with $27.96 billion, and Germany with $22 billion.
Fig.2. Top ten remittance recipients since 1995
Source: IOM
