Top 10 Remittance Recipients In Latin America And The Caribbean

Compiled By NAN Staff Writer

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. April 6, 2016: The latest on Donald Trump “mad hatter” plan to run the U.S. includes impounding “all remittance payments derived from illegal wages” of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. to compel Mexico to pay for his border wall. Remittances or money transfers from immigrants in the US and globally is money sent back to help their relatives and friends in his or her home country. Money sent home by migrants competes with international aid as one of the largest financial inflows to developing countries and makes its way quickly into the small businesses and  economy of the country. So how much exactly is sent home to Mexico and the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean? Here are the top 10 receiving remittance nations in this region according to latest World Bank data:

1: Mexico

Customer Service Representative Adriana Hernandez, left, helps Jesus Flores send money to Mexico at a Bancomer Transfer Services store in San Fernando, California

Mexico, with a population of 32.9 million immigrants in the U.S. alone, definitively leads the region in remittances according to the World Bank’s ‘Migration and Remittances Factbook of 2016.’ The total for 2015, the latest data available, is put at a whopping USD 25.7 billion. However, the World Bank insists that the true size of remittances, including unrecorded flows through formal and informal channels, is believed to be larger.

2: Guatemala

Crowds shopping on market day, Totonicapan, Guatemala, Central America.

The troubled Central American nation of Guatemala, with some 902,000 immigrants in the U.S., took the number two spot with remittances received in 2015 put at USD 6 billion.

3: The Dominican Republic

A woman pays her purchase at the market on January 04, 2016 in Dajabon, Dominican Republic. Dajabon, a small town to the west of the Dominican Republic, is the busiest border with Haiti.

Coming in at number three on the top ten list is the Spanish-speaking Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic with 960,000 immigrants calling the U.S. home. World Bank data say some USD 5 billion was sent back to the DR as remittances in 2015.

4: Colombia

A worker packs flowers at a farm in Tocancipa, Cundinamarca department, Colombia.

With USD 4.5 billion sent back in money transfers in 2015, the South American nation of Colombia, with an estimated 972,000 nationals living in the US, took the fourth spot on the top ten list.

5: EI Salvador

A man leaves a finance company office where he receives his remittance from the US, in Intipuca, 179 km southeast of San Salvador.

El Salvador, which has about 1.1 million immigrants in the U.S., came in at fifth on the top 10 ranks, recording a whopping USD 4.4 billion in remittances in 2015.

6: Honduras

A butcher sells meat at Tegucigalpa’s main fruit and vegetable market El Mayoreo, Honduras. (AFP PHOTO/ORLANDO SIERRA)

Honduras, which has about 534,000 immigrants in the U.S., received some USD 3.8 billion in remittances in 2015, according to the latest World Bank data.

7: Brazil

Diners gather cash to pay the bill at a restaurant near Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Brazilians in the US – who number some 1.3 million – sent home USD 2.8 billion in 2015, putting them at 7th on the top ten list.

8: Peru

A currency exchange shop in the Ate district of Lima, Peru.

Peru received USD 2.7 billion last year from nationals in the U.S. who number some 628,000, putting it on the 8th spot on the top 10 remittance recipient list.

9: Ecuador

Ecuadorean Pacari Chocolates employees select organic cocoa beans at their factory in southern Quito, Ecuador.

Coming in at ninth was the South American nation of Ecuador, which according to World Bank data, received USD 2 billion last year. An estimated 665,000 Ecuadorians live in the U.S.

10: Jamaica

Arnold Rowe is president of a company (Rapid Remittance) that wires money to Jamaica and the Caribbean.

Jamaicans, the third largest West Indian immigrant group in the U.S., sent home USD 2.3 billion last year, according to the World Bank. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, there were an estimated 965,355 Jamaicans across the country.