The Global Remittances Guide	Home > The Global Remittances Guide

Remittances are among the most tangible links between migration and development. Officially recorded flows totaled over US$280 billion worldwide in 2006. Nearly three-quarters were sent to developing countries. In 22 countries, remittances were equal to more than 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2006; in six countries they were equal to more than 20 percent of GDP.

Learn about remittance trends and patterns of the world, six regions, and the top remittances-receiving countries in terms of the volume and the share of GDP, by selecting the geography of interest. Click on one of the two maps below to visualize global remittance flows, either numerically or as a share of GDP.

Note: These data only capture remittances sent through formal channels such as banks and money transfer operators. Currently, no uniform and authoritative historical data on informal flows exist. However, where estimates of informal remittances are available, we include them in the remittances profiles. Given the widespread use of informal remittance channels in many countries, the remittance data presented in this guide should be regarded as underestimates of the total flows.

World
Latin America and the Caribbean	East Asia and the Pacific	South Asia
Middle East and Northen Africa	Sub-Saharan Africa	Europe and Central Asia

• Amount of remittances
• Remittances as percent GDP

Top ten countries
select a country Bangladesh China Egypt India Lebanon Mexico Morocco Pakistan Philippines Vietnam

View all remittances profiles

View detailed regional maps:

• Western Africa, Southern Africa and Eastern Europe & Western Asia
• Caribbean, Central & South America, Central & South Asia, Southeast Asia

Top ten countries
select a country Armenia Bosnia and Herzegovina Guyana Haiti Honduras Jordan Lebanon Moldova Tajikistan Tonga

View all remittances profiles

While recognizing the wealth of data and research that already exists on remittances, our Global Remittances Guide serves as a central hub for the dissemination of data on remittances as they are linked to both international migration and development. To provide a portrait of global remittance flows, the guide leverages remittance data compiled by the World Bank’s Development Prospects Group on more than 150 countries.

The regional and country profiles displayed through the Global Remittances Guide:

• Provide time series of formal remittance flows;
• Compare remittances to GDP and critical financial flows including foreign direct investment, commercial service exports, merchandise exports, agricultural exports, and official development assistance;
• Provide relevant international migration and socio-economic development data;
• Display estimates of informal remittances from various sources;
• Identify national economic and demographic sources relevant to remittances; and,
• Suggest references for further research.

Technical terms are linked to definitions and a full glossary is available.

This data tool is a project of the Migration Policy Institute's Migrants, Migration, and Development program. It was made possible with generous support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the technical assistance of Dilip Ratha and Sanket Moahapatra from the Development Prospects Group, The World Bank.