Migrants send home almost three times more than all foreign aid
Original title: Money sent home by international migrants is almost three times as much as global foreign aid · Our World in Data · 18 Jun 2025

Chart: Our World in Data, CC BY 4.0
So what
At over $800 billion a year, remittances are the largest external financial flow to many developing economies, ahead of aid and often FDI. For payments firms, banks and telecoms this is a high-volume corridor business where fees and speed are the battleground. For governments, aid cuts look smaller beside private family transfers, but remittances do not fund public goods.
| Label | Value | Unit | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remittances sent or brought back by migrants (text) | 822 | US$ billion | 2023 |
| Global foreign aid, net ODA (text) | 288 | US$ billion | 2023 |
| Remittances (chart alt text) | 781 | US$ billion | 2021 |
| Foreign aid (chart alt text) | 202 | US$ billion | 2021 |
| Tajikistan remittances received | 57.664845 | % of GDP | 2025 |
| Tonga remittances received | 39.19703 | % of GDP | 2024 |
| Lebanon remittances received | 33.349773 | % of GDP | 2023 |
| Honduras remittances received | 30.11853 | % of GDP | 2025 |
| El Salvador remittances received | 27.511269 | % of GDP | 2025 |
| Nicaragua remittances received | 26.632397 | % of GDP | 2024 |
| Nepal remittances received | 25.992485 | % of GDP | 2024 |
