The remittances from workers or international immigrants play a pivotal role in the economies of the developing countries in the world. The migration of people from developing-to-developed, developing-to-developing and even developed-to-developing countries derives substantial amount of foreign exchange for their countries and provide financial assistance to their families.
In December 2015, World Bank has issued a press release that states that International migrants are expected to send $601 billion back home in 2016 where developing countries would be sharing >73% of the total remittances to their motherlands, $441 billion.
Largest Remittances Source Countries
The following three are estimated to be the largest remittances source countries in 2014:
1. The United States $56 billion
2. Saudi Arabia $37 billion
3. Russia $33 billion
The United States tops the table despite the fact that many of migrants are nationalized and settled in there with families and rarely has to send remittances to their countries. Saudi Arabia is surprising the second largest remittances source country as it has to take drastic measures in its recent budget to cut down in government spending due to falling oil prices internationally. Russia, 3rd, is also facing the same problem as Saudi Arabia.
Largest Remittances Receiving Countries
The three largest remittances receiving countries with estimated inward flows in 2015 are:
1. India $72 billion
2. China $64 billion
3. Philippines $30 billion
India, 2nd most populace country in the world but a developing country so as expected, tops the chart in largest remittances receiving countries. China grippingly remains 2nd, may be owing to its slow growth rate while Philippines emerged as 3rd largest earner through remittances.
Top 10 Migrant Destination Countries
The report includes the following as top 10 migrant destination countries:
1. The United States
2. Saudi Arabia
3. Germany
4. Russia
5. United Arab Emirates
6. United Kingdom
7. France
8. Canada
9. Spain
10. Australia
Saudi Arabia 2nd and United Arab Emirates (4th) are the major Middle East countries providing migrants to reap earnings whereas the countries like United Kingdom, France and Canada are lagging behind, again due to the nationality factor.
Top 10 Migrant Source Countries – Pakistan Placed 6th
The top 10 countries from where the migrants travel to the destination countries are:
1. India
2. Mexico
3. Russia
4. China
5. Bangladesh
6. Pakistan
7. Philippines
8. Afghanistan
9. Ukraine
10. United Kingdom
The number of total international migrants is expected to cross 250 million this year in search of better financial and job opportunities. Mexico-United States was the largest migration corridor with an estimated number of 13 million international migrants in 2013. Russian-Ukraine, Bangladesh-India and Ukraine-Russian are the next three in this category.
Mexico and Bangladesh are finding opening areas in their neighbor countries, The United States and India respectively while Pakistan has more manpower in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates than other countries.
Turkey and Pakistan, the Largest Refugees Host Countries
In 2014, out of 14.4 million refugees (excluding 5.1 million Palestine refugees), nearly 86% refugees were hosted by Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Chad, Uganda and China whereas advanced countries hosted just 1.6 million refugees.
Data Source: The World Bank