Remittances Have Surpassed Foreign Direct Investment in Many Countries

Remittances overtook foreign direct investment in low- and middle-income countries for the first time in 2022. This is according to World Bank data, which is also published in the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) 2024 World Migration Report, released on Tuesday. International remittances are defined as money sent from workers living abroad to their home countries.

Remittances have risen by 650 percent from $128 billion in 2000 to $831 billion in 2022. As with previous years, much of this ($647 billion) was received by low- and middle-income countries. Since the mid-1990s, remittance has also greatly surpassed Official Development Assistance, i.e. government aid designed to "promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries."

The writers of the IOM report highlight that the World Bank’s global data on international remittances does not take into account unrecorded flows through formal or informal channels. This means the data provided is likely below the actual figures.