With Nigerians living abroad sending $20.8 billion home in 2015, the country has been ranked as the 6th largest receiver of remittances in the world according to the World Bank’s Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016.
The Factbook showed that a quarter of a billion people around the world were migrants, and over $600 billion in remittances were sent annually with what Nigerians living abroad sent home in 2015 were by far the largest volume of remittances to any country in Africa and the 6th largest in the world.
The Factbook also showed that the United States was the biggest remittance sending country to Nigeria, followed by the United Kingdom. Nigerians will receive $5.7 billion in remittances sent from friends and family members in the US and $3.7 billion from the UK in 2015.
Moreover, Nigeria is also the third largest destination country for migrants from other African nations. According to Alix Murphy, Senior Mobile Analyst, the World Bank Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016 “presents the most important data behind the stories of international migration and remittances, including important updates for Nigeria.
“The World Bank’s latest report shows that we have now hit two significant milestones – quarter of a billion migrants globally and $600bn of remittances sent annually. More than ever, we live in world of mobile and connected people whose financial ties extend across the planet. At WorldRemit we see the technological infrastructure evolving to meet these changing demands – in particular the convergence of mobile connectivity, instant messaging and international money transfers.
“Despite being the biggest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria’s financial system is still deeply fragmented, making sending and receiving money very challenging for ordinary Nigerians. 56% of Nigerians are unbanked, so offering a variety of pay-out options, including direct to bank account and instant cash pick-up, is extremely important for reaching everyone in society. At WorldRemit, we process tens of thousands of international money transfers to Nigeria every month sent by Nigerians in the diaspora using our mobile app or online. It’s technology like this which is helping to bring down the costs of remittances and transform the lives of Nigerians everywhere.”
Other key findings from the report include:
*In 2015 the number of international migrants surpassed 250 million – a quarter of a billion people – globally.
* International migrants now represent more than 3.4% of the world’s population.
*South-South migration is now larger than South-North migration. Over 38% of international migrants have migrated from developing countries to other developing countries.
*14.4% of international migrants are refugees.
*International remittances to developing countries reached over $441 billion in 2015, more than foreign direct investment and 3x more than official aid flows.
*34% of all international remittances are sent between developing countries.
*Remittances constitute more than 10% of GDP for 25 countries.
*International remittances have been growing steadily and remain stable even during episodes of financial volatility.
*The average global cost of sending remittances fell to 7.37%, still far higher than global targets.
*Sub-Saharan Africa is still the most expensive region to send money to at 9.53%.
*Online remittance products are the cheapest way to send money at 5.57%. Account-to-account transfers via commercial banks remain the most expensive (11.1%), followed by agent-based money transfer operators (6.2%) and post offices (5.9%).
*A combination of improved connectivity, low-cost smartphones and increased competition have contributed to lower costs.
