World Migration Report 2026: Top 10 countries receiving highest remittances; India tops the list

India remained far ahead of every other country in remittance inflows during 2024. The amount the country received has risen sharply over the years, increasing from $83.15 billion in 2020 to $137.67 billion in 2024. The report also highlighted that India has the world’s largest international migrant population, with millions of Indians living and working abroad, particularly in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Saudi Arabia.

After India, the top remittance-receiving countries in 2024 were Mexico, the Philippines, France, and Pakistan. France ranked fourth on the list, although the report pointed out that much of its inflow comes from salaries earned by people who live in France but work across the border in Switzerland, rather than traditional household remittances.

On the sending side, high-income nations continued to dominate global remittance outflows. The United States remained the world’s largest source of remittances in 2024, with more than $100 billion sent abroad. Saudi Arabia followed with over $46 billion, while Switzerland and Germany recorded outflows of around $40 billion and nearly $24 billion, respectively.

The report also discussed the cost of sending money internationally. Under sustainable development goal (SDG) 10.C, countries aim to reduce remittance transaction charges to below 3 per cent for sending $200. However, global costs still remain much higher than the target.

Sub-Saharan Africa continued to have the highest remittance transfer charges in 2023, where the average cost stood at nearly 8 per cent — more than twice the SDG goal. South Asia recorded the lowest average cost at around 5 per cent, followed by East Asia and the Pacific at 5.78 per cent, while Latin America and the Caribbean remained close to 5.9 per cent.

Source: UN’s World Migration Report 2026