Despite the economic crises being experienced in many high-income countries, the remittances that migrants send back to low- and middle-income countries[1] show no signs of drying up. For more than 20 years, official development assistance has been lower than the total value of private remittances from migrants; since 2022, at the global level, these remittances have clearly exceeded foreign investment (in other words, productive investment), and this threshold was passed as early as 2017 if we exclude China from our analysis.
Remittances, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and Official Development Assistance (ODA) flows to low- and middle-income countries, 2000-2024
Remittances, FDI, and ODA flows to low- and middle-income countries, excluding China, 2000-2024
e = estimate; f = forecast for 2023 and 2024.
Source: “Remittances Remain Resilient but Are Slowi
