Sending Money Home: Worldwide Remittance Flows to Developing and Transition Countries
This report attempts to estimate global remittance flows within a coherent framework based on migration and remittance behavior statistics. It states that remittances help in poverty alleviation and have a potential multiplier effect on economic growth and investments. Remittances are used to meet immediate family needs, savings, credit mobilization and other forms of investment. They could also become an efficient contribution to grassroots economic development, particularly in rural areas. The report identifies the following three aspects that could enhance the use of remittances:
- Improvement in data collection;
- Reduction in transaction costs;
- Increased efforts to leverage remittance flows for greater development impact.
The report also presents a worldwide remittance map that compiles information pertaining to migrant population and the remittances they send in. The map covers 162 developing countries and provides comparative indicators to measure the relative importance of remittances among twenty sub-regions of the developing world.
