India received over US$111 billion in remittances in 2022, setting a world record for getting the largest remittances ever recorded, becoming the first country to surpass the USD 100 billion mark, the United Nations migration agency has said, reports PTI.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), in its World Migration Report 2024 launched Tuesday, said that in 2022, India, Mexico, China, the Philippines and France were the top five remittance recipient countries.
"India was well above the rest, receiving more than US$111 billion, the first country to reach and even surpass the US$100 billion mark. Mexico was the second-largest remittance recipient in 2022, a position it also held in 2021 after overtaking China, which historically had been the second-biggest recipient after India," the report said.
According to the report's data, India was the top country receiving remittances in 2010 (US$53.48 billion), 2015 (US$68.91 billion), and 2020 (US$83.15 billion), with the remittances crossing the US$100 billion mark to reach US$111.22 billion in 2022.
It noted that with a very large number of migrant workers from the sub-region, Southern Asia receives some of the largest inflows of remittances globally.
Three countries in Southern Asia - India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, rank among the top ten recipients of international remittances in the world, underscoring the significance of labour migration from the sub-region.
"With India estimated to have received more than US$111 billion in 2022, it is by far the largest recipient of international remittances in the world and the first country to ever reach that figure," the report said.
Pakistan and Bangladesh were the sixth and eighth largest international remittance recipients in 2022, receiving nearly US$30 billion and US$21.5 billion respectively.
The report however noted that while remittances remain a lifeline for many people in the sub-region, migrant workers from these countries continue to face a myriad of risks, including financial exploitation, excessive financial debt due to migration costs, xenophobia and workplace abuses.
The Gulf States remain significant destinations for migrant workers from around the world, and the 2022 football World Cup further underscored the importance of migrant labour to the sub-region as well as rights violations.
Migrants continue to comprise high proportions of the total populations in many Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States.
In the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar, migrants made up 88 per cent, nearly 73 and 77 per cent of the national populations, respectively.
Most migrants - many of whom come from countries such as India, Egypt, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Kenya - work in sectors such as construction, hospitality, security, domestic work and retail.
The report added that nearly 18 million or 1.3 per cent of the total population, India is also the origin of the largest number of international migrants in the world, with large diasporas living in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Saudi Arabia.
India came in 13th as the destination country for immigrants, with 4.48 million.
India - United Arab Emirates, India - US, India - Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh - India were among the top 10 international country-to-country migration corridors, the report said.
Mexico is now the second largest recipient of international remittances in the world after India. China had long held the second spot but it was surpassed by Mexico in 2021, with the Central American country estimated to have received more than US$61 billion in 2022, while China received about US$51 billion.
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