Received, % of GDP · annual 2000–{{year}} · World Bank WDI · {{count}} countries
Money sent home by emigrants, as a share of GDP. These are person-to-person transfers, with no state intermediary and no conditions attached.
World Bank WDI series. Only transfers moving through declared channels are counted: informal cash carrying, very common on some corridors, escapes measurement entirely and understates the total.
This is one of the few ratios where small countries legitimately dominate the ranking. Read it as a measure of dependence, not of wealth.
For several countries — Tajikistan, Nepal, Honduras, Lebanon — these transfers exceed 20% of GDP, far more than official development aid and often more than foreign investment. They are also more stable: they rise when the home country is in trouble, precisely when capital flees.