India Leads Global Inbound Remittances

India received by far the highest international remittances of any country worldwide in 2022, according to World Bank data, also published in the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) 2024 World Migration Report on Tuesday. International remittances are defined as money sent from workers living abroad to their home countries.

It is also the first country ever to have passed the $100 billion mark for inbound remittances. India was trailed some way behind by Mexico ($61.1 billion) and in third place, the Philippines ($38 billion). The majority of the inflows for France and Germany, which appear in rank 4 and 10, respectively, are not household transfers but “relate to salaries of cross-border workers who work in Switzerland while residing in France or Germany”, according to the IOM report.

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.