PTI
United Nations
India received more than $137 billion in remittances in 2024, the top remittance recipient country in the world and the only nation to surpass $100 billion, the UN agency on
migration said.
“India consistently leads as the top recipient of remittances, followed by Mexico,” said the World Migration Report 2026, released by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
on Tuesday.
In 2024, India, Mexico, the Philippines and France were the top four remittance recipient
countries globally.
“India, however, continued to be well above the rest, receiving more than $137 billion, and remained the only country to surpass $100 billion,” the
report said.
Since 2010, India has been the top remittance receiving country in the world, when it had received $53.48 billion, which grew over the years to
$68.91 billion in 2015, $83.15 billion in 2020 and $137.67 billion in 2024.
The report said the distribution of remittances varies across regions as well, with South Asia estimated to experience the highest growth in 2024 at 11.8 per cent, driven by continued strong inflows to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
High-income countries are almost always the main source of international remittances. For decades, the United States of America has consistently been the top remittance-sending country in the world, with a total outflow surpassing $100 billion in 2024. It was followed by Saudi Arabia (over $46 billion), Switzerland (around $40 billion) and Germany
(nearly $24 billion).
The report also said countries in Asia continue to account for the largest share of internationally mobile students. In 2022, more than one
million international students came from China, the single largest origin country worldwide. India ranked second, with over 620,000
students abroad.
Beyond these two leading countries, origin country numbers drop considerably: Uzbekistan (150,000), Vietnam (134,000) and Germany (126,000) follow, while the United States, France, Nigeria, the Syrian Arab Republic and Nepal each had between 95,000 and 115,000 students studying abroad.
More than half of the world’s internationally mobile students reside in countries in Europe and North America.
The Indian diaspora has been instrumental in the expansion of India’s technology sector, it said.
The report pointed out that protecting migration’s role in development also means addressing the “brain drain” challenge and turning it into “brain gain”. When skilled workers emigrate, origin countries may lose human capital, but tailored policies can circulate knowledge so that both origin and destination countries benefit.
“India’s brain gain efforts include annual diaspora conventions and innovation hubs to entice Indian scientists and entrepreneurs back (or to mentor startups remotely), while China’s initiatives like the Thousand Talents Plan have successfully attracted thousands of overseas Chinese academics to return and bolster domestic research and development. Such programmes can have mixed results, however, notwithstanding the longer-term benefits,” it said.
