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Countries Which Receive the Most Remittances
A remittance is a transfer of money from a foreign worker back to people in their home country. Name the 20 countries which received the most remittances in 2021.
Free movement in the EU, means that a lot of people choose to find higher paying jobs in places such as the UK. They often have English as a 2nd language taught from early on, so can earn much more than they potentially could in the same role in Ukraine for example.
Ukraine isn't in the EU. I expected countries like Poland, Romania and Bulgaria for the reason you mentioned - but they didn't show up. France and Spain did. That surprised me too.
a reason why france makes the list is because a lot of their neighbouring countries have great work locations, such as. Monaco, Geneve, Basel, Luxembourg, Vlaanders, Frankfurt etc. All these cities and regions offer many jobs for the french workers, especially Monaco where hundreds of thousands travel to the country everyday to work
Surprised France and Belgium make the list while some other European countries do not, and some other places like the USA, Malaysia, Sudan, Vietnam, Russia, Yemen... and I wonder how much money is made by expats and sent back that is off the books. Probably a ton in certain economies.
Is it possible the European countries might be cases of someone whose job is just across the border into the next country from where they live? I know that happens with people who work in different states here in the US, but I have no idea if that would happen in Europe or not.
Yes this is probably the case. Here in the UK there are a variety of people from all over Europe working in all kinds of jobs. Likely accounts for France, Ukraine etc.
Yes. this happens with Albanian workers in Greece and Czech workers in Germany. Czech ones may actually cross the border daily, while Albanians can only do so weekly.
Yes. For instance the Swiss cities Geneva and Basle have entire suburbs across the border inside France, and most people there commute to Switzerland every day. I guess their earnings count as "remittances"? Also virtually all employees in stone-rich Monaco are French.
One of the more difficult quizzes to find the pattern of the answers. Got everything but Jordan, but towards the end I was just randomly typing in countries. Surprised Vietnam didn't make the list.
The pattern is countries that have a large diaspora working as expats in other countries, but at the same time don't have too many expats from other countries working in them.
Probably helps to have lived and worked in countries that are full of expats earning and remitting money home like the United States and Saudi Arabia. Then you would have run into people from almost all of these places.
The difference between what I was expecting in this quiz and what was actually there was interesting. I was thinking of countries that were poor, but not so poor that people wouldn't be able to afford to leave. And with high populations. The top eight were therefore expected. But I thought that in richer countries like France and Belgium there would surely be more workers there sending remittances, not receiving them. Didn't consider many others because I thought they would have too low a population.
It's crazy to think that remittances power about a quarter (!) of Nepal's economy, but it makes sense. Where I live in Pennsylvania, there are Nepali grocery stores and small businesses everywhere, on a scale that few other immigrant groups rival. Most of the "Indian" restaurants here are also Nepali owned. While the Nepali community doesn't seem to necessarily be very rich, I imagine all of the money from these small businesses adds up to a lot.
When I was in Nepal, I was shocked at how much of the wealth in the countrysides seemed to come from remittances. Unemployment was staggering and it was considered normal for a family to send at least one member to Dubai for a couple years as kitchen staff or construction.
I suspect that most of the Nepali people in Pennsylvania are stateless refugees from Bhutan. I knew of some Nepali people in Harrisburg and they told me that there is a whole street dedicated to Nepali businesses there. In this case, they send less remittances than workers in the Gulf or the large community of Nepali immigrants in Australia, as their communities back home are completely fragmented.
Yep, right on! Many of the ethnic Nepalis where I live (which is part of the Harrisburg metro area) are from Bhutan and are refugees. Not sure if this is the street you are talking about, but there are tons and tons of Nepali businesses on Derry Street--if you take a look on Google Maps, you'll find the easternmost part of it is dominated by Nepali stores. I find it interesting that this street is evidently so famous among the Nepali community that you know of it without ever having visited Harrisburg!
And in regard to remittances you're also probably right--I just assumed that most of it was being sent to Nepal, but in hindsight, many of the refugees don't actually seem to have strong roots there and they often come as families and not individuals. You probably know more about this situation than I do.
Both in NYC and here in Korea there are a lot of Nepalis.
In Korea to get a visa, they first must pass a Korean language test, so they work in factories and other businesses that are better paying than farm work.
In NYC more are Tibetan and Sherpa than lowland Nepalis from Kathmandu, so they're settled rather than sojourners. Many have restaurants, but also have a wide range of jobs. Some are nannies who make about $70 per hour, despite having nearly no formal education.
I had some students who told me that. It was quite trendy for rich families to have nannies from Nepal. Many were not literate in any language, especially the women, but they spoke English very well.
Free movement of people within the EU leading Belgians to have easy access to work in neighbouring countries. Considerable population who speak French working in France, Dutch speaking population working in the Netherlands, small minority working in Luxembourg as well where the EU institutions are located.
Interestingly but logical how most of these countries are developing ones. Enough money to go abroad but lack of opportunities in home country itself. A bit sad though but not bad since that money is given back to home.
Probably helps to have lived and worked in countries that are full of expats earning and remitting money home like the United States and Saudi Arabia. Then you would have run into people from almost all of these places.
I suspect that most of the Nepali people in Pennsylvania are stateless refugees from Bhutan. I knew of some Nepali people in Harrisburg and they told me that there is a whole street dedicated to Nepali businesses there. In this case, they send less remittances than workers in the Gulf or the large community of Nepali immigrants in Australia, as their communities back home are completely fragmented.
And in regard to remittances you're also probably right--I just assumed that most of it was being sent to Nepal, but in hindsight, many of the refugees don't actually seem to have strong roots there and they often come as families and not individuals. You probably know more about this situation than I do.
In Korea to get a visa, they first must pass a Korean language test, so they work in factories and other businesses that are better paying than farm work.
In NYC more are Tibetan and Sherpa than lowland Nepalis from Kathmandu, so they're settled rather than sojourners. Many have restaurants, but also have a wide range of jobs. Some are nannies who make about $70 per hour, despite having nearly no formal education.
I had some students who told me that. It was quite trendy for rich families to have nannies from Nepal. Many were not literate in any language, especially the women, but they spoke English very well.
European countries with loose borders, where people commute across the border often for work.
Underdeveloped countries with a large expat population.
Is this what "developing" is code for?
Why are you "exhausted"?