Global Remittances: Flows to Low- and Middle-Income Countries and Top Recipients

Remittances are money sent home by migrants. World Bank economists estimated officially recorded remittances to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) at $685 billion in 2024 [1]. The true size, including informal channels, is believed to be larger [1].

Growth picked up to an estimated 5.8% in 2024, from 1.2% in 2023 [1]. Including high-income countries, world remittance flows were estimated at $905 billion in 2024 [1].

South Asia received an estimated $207 billion in 2024, the largest regional total, and posted the fastest growth at 11.8%, driven by India, Pakistan and Bangladesh [1].

• Latin America and the Caribbean: $163 billion, with growth slowing to 5.5% from 7.5% in 2023 [1].
• East Asia and Pacific: $136 billion, or $88 billion excluding China [1].
• Europe and Central Asia: $64 billion, a 3% recovery after an 8.7% decline in 2023 [1].
• Middle East and North Africa: $58 billion, up 5.4% after a 14.6% fall in 2023, mainly on flows to Egypt [1].
• Sub-Saharan Africa: $56 billion, up 2.4% [1].

The top five LMIC recipients in 2024 were India (an estimated $129 billion), Mexico ($68 billion), China ($48 billion), the Philippines ($40 billion) and Pakistan ($33 billion) [1]. Mexico's inflows grew about 3% [1].

Updated World Bank data cited in the IOM World Migration Report 2026 put India's 2024 inflows at $137.67 billion and Mexico's at $67.64 billion [2]. India remained the only country to receive more than $100 billion [2].

As a share of GDP, the most remittance-dependent economies in 2024 were Tajikistan (45%), Tonga (38%), Nicaragua (27%), Lebanon (27%) and Samoa (26%) [1].

Recovery in job markets in high-income OECD countries has been the main driver [1]. In the United States, employment of foreign-born workers was 11% above its February 2020 pre-pandemic level, according to World Bank analysis of US Bureau of Labor Statistics data [1].

Remittances also outpace other external flows. Over the past decade, remittances to LMICs rose by 57% while foreign direct investment fell by 41% [1]. In 2023, remittances exceeded FDI flows to LMICs by more than $270 billion [3].

Flow estimates come from a World Bank People Move blog by Dilip Ratha, Sonia Plaza and Eung Ju Kim (December 2024), based on World Bank/KNOMAD staff estimates [1]. 2024 values are estimates (e) and may be revised; the later IOM figures for India and Mexico illustrate such revisions [2]. All values are in current US dollars and cover officially recorded flows only.

The cost of sending remittances, tracked by the World Bank's Remittance Prices Worldwide database, was not captured in the sources reviewed for this edition and is not quoted.