Money
Mapped: The Ins and Outs of Remittance Flows
Mapped: The Ins and Outs of Remittance Flows
The global immigrant population is growing at a robust pace, and their aggregate force is one to be reckoned with. In 2019, migrants collectively sent $550.5 billion in money back to their home countries—money transfer flows that are also known as remittances.
Remittances serve as an economic lifeline around the world, particularly for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Today’s visualization relies on the latest data from the World Bank to create a snapshot of these global remittance flows.
Where do most of these remittances come from, and which countries are the biggest recipients?
Remittances: An Origin Story
Remittances are a type of capital flow, with significant impacts on the places they wind up. These money transfers have surpassed official aid being sent to LMICs for decades, and in this day and age, are rivaling even Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows.
Remittance flows mainly help improve basic living standards such as housing, healthcare, and education, with leftover funds going towards other parts of the economy. They can also be a means for increasing the social mobility of family and friends back home.
Altogether, 50% of remittances are sent in either U.S. dollars, or the closely-linked currencies of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, such as the Saudi riyal. It’s not surprising then, that the U.S. is the biggest origin country of remittances, contributing $68.5 billion in 2018—more than double that of the next-highest country, Saudi Arabia, at $33.6 billion.
Remittance Flows As A Safety Net
The impact of remittances on LMICs can vary depending on what you measure. In absolute terms, the top 10 LMIC recipients received $350 billion, or nearly 64% of total remittances in 2019.
Top Remittance Recipients in 2019 (USD)
| Rank | Country | Remittance Inflows | % of Nominal GDP |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 🇮🇳 India | $82.2B | 2.8% |
| #2 | 🇨🇳 China | $70.3B | 0.5% |
| #3 | 🇲🇽 Mexico | $38.7B | 3.1% |
| #4 | 🇵🇭 Philippines | $35.1B | 9.8% |
| #5 | 🇪🇬 Egypt | $26.4B | 8.8% |
| #6 | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | $25.4B | 5.7% |
| #7 | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | $21.9B | 7.9% |
| #8 | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | $17.5B | 5.5% |
| #9 | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | $16.7B | 6.4% |
| #10 | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | $15.9B | 11.8% |
India tops the chart as the largest remittances beneficiary, followed by China and Mexico. Interestingly, these three countries are also the main destinations of remittance flows from the U.S., but in the reverse order. Mexico and the U.S. have one of the most interconnected remittance corridors in the world.
However, the chart above makes it clear that simply counting the dollars is only one part of the picture. Despite these multi-billion dollar numbers, remittances are equal to only a fraction of these economies.
By looking at remittances as a percentage of nominal GDP, it’s clear that they can have an outsize impact on nations, even if the overall value of flows are much lower in comparison.
Top Remittance Recipients in 2019 (% of GDP)
| Rank | Country | Remittance Inflows | % of Nominal GDP |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 🇹🇴 Tonga | $0.19B | 38.5% |
| #2 | 🇭🇹 Haiti | $3.3B | 34.3% |
| #3 | 🇳🇵 Nepal | $8.6B | 29.9% |
| #4 | 🇹🇯 Tajikistan | $2.3B | 29.7% |
| #5 | 🇰🇬 Kyrgyz Republic | $2.4B | 29.6% |
| #6 | 🇭🇳 Honduras | $5.3B | 21.4% |
| #7 | 🇸🇻 El Salvador | $5.6B | 20.8% |
| #8 | 🇰🇲 Comoros | $0.14B | 19.3% |
| #9 | 🇼🇸 Samoa | $0.17B | 18.4% |
| #10 | 🇵🇸 West Bank and Gaza | $2.6B | 17.6% |
It’s clear that the cash influxes provided by remittances are crucial to many smaller countries. Take the Polynesian archipelago of Tonga, for example: even though it only saw $190 million in remittances from abroad, that amount accounts for nearly 40% of the country’s nominal GDP.
Will The Remittance Tides Turn?
The World Bank projects remittance flows to increase to nearly $600 billion by 2021. But are such projections of future remittance flows reliable? The researchers offer two reasons why remittances may ebb and flow.
On one hand, anti-immigration sentiment across major economies could complicate this growth, as evidenced by Brexit. The good news? That doesn’t stop immigration itself from taking place. Instead, where these migrants and their money end up, are constantly in flux.
This means that as immigration steadily grows, so will remittance flows. What’s more, fintech innovations have the potential to bolster this progress, by making money transfers cheaper and easier to access.
Tackling [high transaction costs] is crucial not only for economic and social development, but also for improving financial inclusion.
—UN ESCAP, Oct 2019
GDP
Visualizing U.S. GDP by Industry in 2023
Services-producing industries account for the majority of U.S. GDP in 2023, followed by other private industries and the government.
Visualizing U.S. GDP by Industry
The U.S. economy is like a giant machine driven by many different industries, each one akin to an essential cog that moves the whole.
Understanding the breakdown of national gross domestic product (GDP) by industry shows where commercial activity is bustling and how diverse the economy truly is.
The above infographic uses data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis to visualize a breakdown of U.S. GDP by industry in 2023. To show this, we use value added by industry, which reflects the difference between gross output and the cost of intermediate inputs.
The Top 10 U.S. Industries by GDP
As of Q1 2023, the annualized GDP of the U.S. sits at $26.5 trillion.
Of this, 88% or $23.5 trillion comes from private industries. The remaining $3 trillion is government spending at the federal, state, and local levels.
Here’s a look at the largest private industries by economic contribution in the United States:
| Industry | Annualized Nominal GDP (as of Q1 2023) | % of U.S. GDP |
|---|---|---|
| Professional and business services | $3.5T | 13% |
| Real estate, rental, and leasing | $3.3T | 12% |
| Manufacturing | $2.9T | 11% |
| Educational services, health care, and social assistance | $2.3T | 9% |
| Finance and insurance | $2.0T | 8% |
| Wholesale trade | $1.7T | 6% |
| Retail trade | $1.5T | 6% |
| Information | $1.5T | 6% |
| Arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food services | $1.2T | 4% |
| Construction | $1.1T | 4% |
| Other private industries | $2.6T | 10% |
| Total | $23.5T | 88% |
Like most other developed nations, the U.S. economy is largely based on services.
Service-based industries, including professional and business services, real estate, finance, and health care, make up the bulk (70%) of U.S. GDP. In comparison, goods-producing industries like agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and construction play a smaller role.
Professional and business services is the largest industry with $3.5 trillion in value added. It comprises establishments providing legal, consulting, design, administration, and other services. This is followed by real estate at $3.3 trillion, which has consistently been an integral part of the economy.
Due to outsourcing and other factors, the manufacturing industry’s share of GDP has been declining for decades, but it still remains a significant part of the economy. Manufacturing of durable goods (metals, machines, computers) accounts for $1.6 trillion in value added, alongside nondurable goods (food, petroleum, chemicals) at $1.3 trillion.
The Government’s Contribution to GDP
Just like private industries, the government’s value added to GDP consists of compensation of employees, taxes collected (less subsidies), and gross operating surplus.
| Government | Annualized Nominal GDP (as of Q1 2023) | % of U.S. GDP |
|---|---|---|
| State and Local | $2.1T | 8% |
| Federal | $0.9T | 4% |
| Total | $3.1T | 12% |
Figures may not add up to the total due to rounding.
State and local government spending, largely focused on the education and public welfare sectors, accounts for the bulk of value added. The Federal contribution to GDP amounts to roughly $948 billion, with 52% of it attributed to national defense.
The Fastest Growing Industries (2022–2032P)
In the next 10 years, services-producing industries are projected to see the fastest growth in output.
The table below shows the five fastest-growing industries in the U.S. from 2022–2032 in terms of total output, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
| Industry | Sector | Compound Annual Rate of Output Growth (2022–2032P) |
|---|---|---|
| Software publishers | Information | 5.2% |
| Computing infrastructure providers, data processing, and related services | Information | 3.9% |
| Wireless telecommunications carriers (except satellite) | Information | 3.6% |
| Home health care services | Health care and social assistance | 3.6% |
| Oil and gas extraction | Mining | 3.5% |
Three of the fastest-growing industries are in the information sector, underscoring the growing role of technology and digital infrastructure. Meanwhile, the projected growth of the oil and gas extraction industry highlights the enduring demand for traditional energy sources, despite the energy transition.
Overall, the development of these industries suggests that the U.S. will continue its shift toward a services-oriented economy. But today, it’s also worth noticing how services- and goods-producing industries are increasingly tied together. For example, it’s now common for tech companies to produce devices, and for manufacturers to use software in their operations.
Therefore, the oncoming tide of growth in service-based industries could potentially lift other interconnected sectors of the diverse U.S. economy.
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