India received 87 billion dollars in remittances in 2021, the top remittance recipient, and way ahead of countries like China and Mexico, according to a World Health Organisation report released on Wednesday.
The first WHO World report on the health of refugees and migrants said that today about one in eight people in the world, some one billion, are migrants.
The report by the specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health said that in 2021 the top five remittance recipients in current US dollars were India, China, Mexico, the Philippines and Egypt.
With USD 87 billion, India was the top remittance recipient among low- and middle-income countries, as per 2021 estimates, way ahead of China and Mexico’s 53 billion dollars, the Philippines (36 billion dollars) and Egypt (33 billion dollars). The United States was the largest source country for remittances in 2020, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland. Remittances increase or maintain consumer spending and soften the blow of economic hardship, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Remittances are expected to continue growing in 2022, but there are challenges, such as the Covid-19 crisis, which still poses one of the greatest risks to flows to low- and middle-income countries, especially as fiscal stimulus programmes in migrant destination countries cannot continue indefinitely,” the report said.
It said remittances are an “important and positive” economic result of migration for migrants themselves and for family and friends remaining in their home countries.