World's highest remittances: India is No.1

Remittances lead to increased investments in health, education, and small businesses.

At the same time, the loss of skills associated with migration can hamper development and delivery of basic services in sending countries, the study points out.

In 2010, worldwide remittance flows are estimated to have exceeded $440 billion. From that amount, developing countries received $325 billion, which is an increase of 6 per cent from the 2009 level, the World Bank's latest Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011 points out.

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India (Rank 1)

Remittances: $55 billion

India is ranked 10th in the list of nations attracting the most immigrants. The diaspora of developing countries can be a source of capital, trade, investment, knowledge, and technology transfers, the World Bank reports states.

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China (Rank 2)

Remittances: $51 billion

China, one of the top destination for migrants saw a rise in remittance to $51 billion.

"Remittances in 2008 and 2009 became even more of a lifeline to poor countries, given the massive decline in private capital flows sparked by the crisis," Dilip Ratha, manager of the migration and remittance unit at the World Bank said.

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Mexico (Rank 3)

Remittances: $22.6 billion

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Remittance flows to the Philippines haven risen by 7.8 per cent taking the country among the top 5 nations with highest remittances.

France (Rank 5)

France is among the top 10 destination for migrants.  One of the most developed countries, it the fifth largest economy by nominal GDP and seventh largest economy by purchasing power parity.

According to the Factbook 2011, the top migrant destination country is the United States, followed by Russia, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.

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Bangladesh, the eighth most populous country, is ranked 7th among the nations receiving highest remittances.

The country ranks No.1 in terms of emigration.

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The remittance rose to $10.4 billion from $10.3 billion last year.

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A developed country with the ninth largest economy in the world by nominal GDP, and very high living standards, Spain received remittances to the tune of $10.2 billion in 2010.

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Nigeria is the highest recipient of remittances in Africa.

The World Bank report said remittance flows to Sub-Saharan Africa would reach $21.5 billion this year after a small decrease in 2009 due to the global financial crisis.

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Pakistan received 13.32 per cent higher remittances to $9.4 billion in 2010.

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Since 2009, Europe and Central Asia's developing region excludes Poland which has been reclassified as a high-income country.

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The World Bank estimated the inflow of expatriates' remittances to Lebanon at $8.2 billion in 2010, a rise of 8.2 per cent from $7.6 billion in 2009 and $7.2 billion in 2008 and $5.8 billion in 2007.

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The World Bank also predicted that the total amount of remittance to developing nations will continue to increase in the coming years with a growth of about 6.2 per cent in 2011 and 8.1 per cent in 2012.

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The world's sixth largest economy by nominal GDP and the sixth largest by purchasing power parity is ranked 16th in terms of remittances.

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Overseas remittances to Vietnam, a major source of foreign currency, hit $7.2 billion this year, up 14 per cent from last year's $6.4 billion.

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Indonesia (Rank 17)

The world's fourth most populous nation, Indonesia is ranked at 17th position.

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The top recipients in the African regions  include Sudan ($3.2 billion), Kenya ($1.8 billion), Senegal ($1.2 billion), South Africa ($1 billion), Uganda ($0.8 billion), Lesotho ($0.5 billion), Ethiopia ($387 million), Mali ($385 million), and Togo ($302 million).

Russia (Rank 19)

Russia was a leading remittance sending country in 2009, accounting for $18.6 billion in remittances to other countries.

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Some developing regions in Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa witnessed larger-than-expected falls in remittances in 2009, while flows to South Asia in 2009 grew more than expected.

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