United Nations:
India received over $111 billion in remittances in 2022, setting a world record for receiving the largest remittances ever. The country became the first country to cross the $100 billion mark, according to the United Nations migration agency.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM), in its World Migration Report 2024, launched on Tuesday, said India, Mexico, China, the Philippines and France were the top five countries receiving remittances in 2022.
“India stood out well above the rest, receiving over $111 billion, the first country to reach or exceed the $100 billion mark. Mexico was the second-largest recipient of remittances in 2022, a position it also held in 2021 after overtaking China. , which has historically been the second largest recipient after India,” the report said.
According to the report's data, India was the largest country to receive remittances in 2010 ($53.48 billion), 2015 ($68.91 billion) and 2020 ($83.15 billion), with remittances crossing the 100 billion mark dollar exceeded, reaching $111.22 billion. in 2022.
It was noted that South Asia, with a very large number of migrant workers from the sub-region, receives one of the largest inflows of remittances globally.
Three countries in South Asia – India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – are among the top ten recipients of international remittances in the world, underscoring the importance of labor migration from the sub-region.
“With India estimated to have received more than $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 recipients of international remittances in 2022, with nearly $30 billion and $21.5 billion respectively.
However, the report notes that while remittances remain a lifeline for many people in the sub-region, migrant workers from these countries still face a host of risks, including financial exploitation, excessive financial debt due to migration costs, xenophobia and abuse the workplace.
The Gulf States remain important destinations for migrant workers from around the world, and the 2022 FIFA World Cup further underlined the importance of migrant workers to the sub-region and its rights abuses.
Migrants still constitute a large portion of the total population in many Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.
In the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar, migrants constituted 88 percent, almost 73 and 77 percent of the national population, 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 India, nearly 18 million or 1.3 percent of the total population, 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 live in Saudi Arabia. Arabia.
India ranked 13th as a destination country for immigrants, with 4.48 million.
India – UAE, India – US, India – Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh – India were among the top 10 international migration corridors from country to country, the report said.
Mexico is now the world's second largest recipient of international remittances after India. China was in second place for a long time, but was surpassed by Mexico in 2021, with the Central American country estimated to receive more than $61 billion in 2022, while China received around $51 billion.
“The contraction in remittances to China has been attributed to multiple factors, including demographic shifts that have resulted in the shrinking of the working-age population and the country's zero-COVID policy, which has discouraged people from moving to the country for work to travel abroad,” the report said. .
The report further states that countries in Asia are the origin of the largest number of internationally mobile students in the world.
In 2021, over a million internationally mobile students came from China, by far the highest number globally and more than double the number of students from second-place India (approximately 508,000).
The US is the largest destination country for internationally mobile students in the world (over 833,000), followed by Great Britain (nearly 601,000), Australia (around 378,000), Germany (over 376,000) and Canada (nearly 318,000).
China is also a major destination for international students, especially those from the Republic of Korea, Thailand, Pakistan and India.
The report states that there are more female than male international migrants in destination countries in Europe and North America, such as the US, Canada, France, Spain and Italy, as well as in India.
India has a slightly higher share of female immigrants than men. Countries with a significantly high proportion of male emigrants include India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Irregular migration to the US remains an ongoing challenge and a major policy issue, with increasing numbers of arrivals from atypical countries of origin. There were 2.4 million encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022, the highest ever recorded. “Encounters” include both detentions and deportations, and these statistics also include many migrants who attempted to enter the US without authorization several times.
For years, most irregular migrants overwhelmingly came from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, but in 2022, for the first time, there were more encounters with migrants from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.
“There were also a large number of arrivals from Haiti, Brazil and from countries outside the region such as India and Ukraine,” the report said.
“The shift in country of origin geography is also attributed to Title 42, which suspends the right to seek asylum under U.S. and international law on the basis of preventing the spread of COVID-19,” the report said .
The report notes that the impact of the pandemic has been severe on both domestic and international Indian expatriate workers, especially low-skilled expatriates on short-term contracts, migrants working in the informal economy and undocumented workers.
Job losses, wage theft and lack of social security during the pandemic have plunged many Indian migrants into deep debt and insecurity.
“The pandemic has had an overwhelming effect on internal labor migration patterns and reshaped work in both rural and urban areas. There has been a decline of almost 10 percent in the mobility of workers to the cities, which has drastically reduced the labor supply. for major industries The official estimate of reverse internal migration is 51.6 percent for men and 11 percent for women,” the report said, citing experts and official data.
Since 2000, IOM has published its most important global migration reports every two years.
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