April 2, 2008
According to the World Bank’s new Migration and Remittances Factbook 2008, Moldova is the world’s top receiver of migrant remittances as a percentage share of Gross Domestic Product, GDP.
Moldova is the world’s most remittance-dependent country. Cash sent from overseas was worth an estimated 36.5 percent of GDP in 2007 - well above exports of goods and services, and more than five times the amount of foreign aid.
The factbook provides snapshots of statistics on migration, recorded remittances flows, and skilled emigration for 194 countries, and 13 regional and income groups. According to the World Bank, data from the factbook have been available online since November 2007, with updating done in real time as new data become available.
The world’s top recipient countries of recorded remittances as a share of GDP were Moldova (36.5 percent), Tajikistan (36.0 percent), Tonga (32 percent), the Kyrgyz Republic (27 percent), and Honduras (26 percent). These flows do not include informal channels, which the World Bank says would significantly enlarge the volume of remittances if they were recorded. The money earned by Moldova’s gast-arbeiters and sent back to their relatives at home is what keeps the country alive. [Read more]
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