March 20, 2008 | posted by Michael Baxter in Immigration |

No less than $27bn flowed into India last year, from migrant Indian workers living abroad sending money back home, says a new report from the World Bank.    The country topped the list of recipients of migrant remittances.  China was second ($25.7 billion), followed by Mexico ($25 billion), the Philippines ($17 billion), and in fifth place, somewhat surprisingly,  was  France ($12.5 billion). 

The United States was the top immigration country in 2005, with 38.4 million immigrants, followed by the Russian Federation (12.1 million), and Germany (10.1 million). Among low-income countries, India had the highest immigration volume (5.7 million), followed by Pakistan (3.3 million).

Dilip Ratha, senior economist at the World Bank said, “In many developing countries, remittances provide a lifeline for the poor. They are often an essential source of foreign exchange and a stabilizing force for the economy in turbulent times.”

For 2007, recorded remittance flows worldwide are estimated at $318 billion.   Interestingly, global remittances are now three times greater than official aid from governments to the developing world.

The World Bank also said, “Smaller countries tend to have higher rates of skilled emigration. Almost all the physicians trained in Grenada and Dominica have emigrated abroad. St. Lucia, Cape Verde, Fiji, São Tomé and Principe, and Liberia are also among the countries with the highest emigration rates of physicians.”

Rich countries are the main source of remittances. The United States is by far the largest, with $42 billion in recorded outward flows in 2006. Saudi Arabia ranks as the second-largest, followed by Switzerland and Germany.

In the UK, money flowing into the economy from remittances was actually greater than money flowing out, at least that was the case in 2006.    In all, inward remittance flows came to $6.954bn in 2006, and outward remittance flows to $4.526bn.