Economy
Ranked: The Countries Sending the Most Remittances Abroad
See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.
Ranked: The Countries Sending the Most Remittances Abroad
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
We chart the top 10 countries by the most remittances sent, in current U.S. dollars, based on 2022 data from Knomad.
Specifically, these transfer totals shown represent personal remittances, or money sent between residents in one country to another, including personal transfers and compensation for work done abroad. It does not include, and is separate from, foreign investment.
Top 10 Countries by Personal Remittances Sent (2000-2022)
The U.S. has consistently been home to the world’s largest immigrant population (45 million people in 2022), a key reason for topping the ranks of sending money abroad over the last two decades.
As a result, countries with largest diasporas in the U.S.—including Indian, the Philippines, and Mexico—tend to be the biggest recipients of these flows.
| Top Countries Sending Money Abroad | 2000 | Top Countries Sending Money Abroad (2022) | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 U.S. | $35B | 🇺🇸 U.S. | $82B |
| 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | $15B | 🇦🇪 UAE | $40B |
| 🇦🇪 UAE | $14B | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | $39B |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | $9B | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | $34B |
| 🇨🇭 Switzerland | $6B | 🇨🇳 China | $18B |
| 🇬🇧 UK | $5B | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | $18B |
| 🇫🇷 France | $5B | 🇩🇪 Germany | $17B |
| 🇰🇷 South Korea | $4B | 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | $16B |
| 🇮🇱 Israel | $3B | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | $15B |
| 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | $3B | 🇫🇷 France | $15B |
Note: Figures rounded.
Similarly, immigrants make up nearly 80% of the population in the UAE (ranked #2 with $80 billion sent), the highest proportion of any country in the world.
Setting the countries sending the most money abroad side-by-side with those receiving money from abroad, reveals broad geographic patterns. Advanced economies (in North America and Europe) are the biggest senders to developing economies in Asia and Africa.
Finally, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Luxembourg are considered offshore financial centers and can be used as intermediary stops in the movement of money through the world.
Why are personal remittances important anyway? To start, a staggering one billion people (roughly one out of eight people in the world) depend on money sent back home. In 2022, 200 million migrant workers sent $800 billion to their families in home countries. Three-quarters of the money received is spent on basic necessities like food, medical, and housing expenses.
Thus, personal remittances represent, perhaps, one of the biggest informal engines of social transformation.
Maps
Map: Where are American Troops Stationed Overseas?
There are nearly 170,000 active duty American troops stationed overseas. And these 10 countries account for 90% of them.
Map: Where Are American Troops Stationed Overseas?
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
With a military budget bigger than most countries’ GDPs, the U.S. military manages to station troops in nearly 170 territories, on every continent in the world.
But which countries host the most troops? We map the territories where active duty American military personnel are stationed, according to March 2024 figures from the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC).
Ranked: Top 10 Territories Hosting U.S. Troops
There are nearly 170,000 active duty American troops stationed overseas.
More than half of that number are in Japan (55,000) and Germany (35,000), a holdover from World War II after the Axis powers surrendered.
Germany is now also home to the US European Command (EUCOM) headquarters in Stuttgart. It’s a key regional outpost, to help “keep the peace in Europe, parts of the Middle East, and Eurasia,” as stated by the government.
| Rank | Country | Active Duty American Troops |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 54,774 |
| 2 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 35,068 |
| 3 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 24,234 |
| 4 | 🇮🇹 Italy | 12,375 |
| 5 | 🇬🇧 UK | 10,058 |
| 6 | 🇬🇺 Guam* | 6,593 |
| 7 | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | 3,479 |
| 8 | 🇪🇸 Spain | 3,292 |
| 9 | 🇹🇷 Türkiye | 1,690 |
| 10 | 🇳🇴 Norway | 1,438 |
| N/A | 🌍 Rest of World | 16,116 |
| N/A | 🌍 Total | 169,117 |
*Guam is a U.S. territory.
Meanwhile, the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty revised in 1960 allowed America to establish military bases in the country, in exchange for defending Japan in the event of an attack.
South Korea also has a significant garrison, nearly 25,000 active duty personnel. This is also a legacy from the Korean War.
Tellingly, however, six of the top 10 countries hosting U.S. troops are in Europe. For the decades since the Cold War, the American military had been reducing its European footprint. However after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, the buildup restarted.
Finally, in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion and the Israel-Hamas war, the U.S. military has increased the number of troops both in Europe and the Middle East.
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