Income from abroad increased by 25% over the previous year

Mexico ranks as the second largest recipient of family remittances

photo_camera PHOTO/REUTERS - Bureau de Change in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Mexico is the second largest recipient of remittances in the world. The Latin American country's income from remittances increased by 25% in 2021 compared to 2020. Mexicans living abroad have sent home $54 billion over the last year.

During 2021 Mexico displaced China to the third position as a recipient of remittances by a difference of one million dollars and is placed behind India, the country that receives the most income from abroad, reaching the figure of 89 billion dollars in the last year.

The first to celebrate the figures for income from reviews was the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who declared that these figures show that the country's economy is on the right track after the blow caused by the pandemic caused by COVID-19: "These are figures like never before. That is why our economy is recovering, it is growing". 

Centro de remesas de dinero

These figures place Mexico as the country that receives the most money in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a World Bank analysis. The most likely explanation for this 25% increase in the annual flow of remittances to Mexico is the increase in transit migration from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba and other countries to pay for their living and travel costs, including fees to pay for illegal border crossings," according to World Bank experts. These resources include family funds already in the United States, and they detail: "Some of the Mexican migrants who are detained while attempting to enter the United States may also receive remittances from such family members." 

This growth in remittance income that Mexico has experienced is mainly due to the increase in the wage bill earned by Mexicans who have migrated to the United States to work. According to the experts, "this increase has been caused by a significant recovery in their employment levels accompanied by higher average salaries", and they add that "in 2021, the growth of Mexico's income from remittances will be the highest recorded in 18 years".

Servicio de transferencia de dinero
Top in the region

Countries in South Asia received the most money from family or friends working abroad, reaching $250 billion in 2021. In second place is East Asia and Asia-Pacific, excluding China, with annual remittance inflows of $133 billion. The third largest geographical area is Latin America and the Caribbean, an area in which Mexico stands out, receiving 41.2% of remittances to the region, representing $54 billion a year. The second largest recipient of remittances is Guatemala, although it receives only 15.4 billion dollars.

More employment, especially among men

During the two-month period September-October last year, the number of Mexican workers employed rose by 7 million people. Employment has grown especially among men, who took 4.7 million new jobs, compared to 2.3 million for women. These data are explained, according to the newspaper El País, "by a greater employment of women in the service sectors, while among men there is a strong concentration in the construction industry, a sector that represented a significant increase in employment. In fact, 31.4% of male workers who have found a new job have done so in the construction sector, compared to 94% of women who have found jobs in the household service sector. On the other hand, women are more likely to be employed in jobs requiring specialisation, such as health service, social work or education-related jobs. 

La devastación causada por COVID-19 en todo el mundo desarrollado está cortando las líneas de vida financiera de las personas en toda América Latina, África y Asia
Mexicans prefer to avoid cash

Mexican workers sending money from the United States prefer to do so 99 per cent of the time through bank transfers, compared with 0.5 per cent of remittances sent in cash. In total, cash crossing the border into Mexico barely amounts to $253 million. According to the Central Bank, a total of 11.6 million transactions took place during the year, with an average remittance of USD 401 each.

Americas Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.

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