India: The top remittances recipient in 2021

21/07/2022

India: The top remittances recipient in 2021

Team Ambitiousbaba are here with a Current Affairs Special Series. In this series, candidates will be introduced to current affairs topics daily, which will not only improve their general awareness but also will ensure that the candidates do not lack in any current affairs topic. Today’s Current Affairs topic is “India: The top remittances recipient in 2021“

World Health Organisation released a report of the health of refugees and migrants, in which India has been ranked as the top remittance recipient after receiving 87 billion dollars in remittances in 2021. India is ahead of countries like China and Mexico.

This report is the first ever WHO World report on the health of refugees and migrants. In report WHO has stated that around one in eight people in the world are migrants which approximately to 1 billion in total.

The report is made by the specialized agency of the United Nations which is responsible for international public health. In report it is briefly pointed out that in 2021 the top five remittance recipients in current US dollars were India, China, Mexico, the Philippines and Egypt.

India was the top remittance recipient among low- and middle-income countries with $87 billion in a way ahead of China and Mexico’s 53 billion dollars, the Philippines (36 billion dollars) and Egypt (33 billion dollars).

Largest source of remittances:

The United States is the largest source country for remittances in 2020. The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland are following countries to the United States.

The report stated that remittances are an “important and positive” economic result of migration for migrants themselves and for family and friends remaining in their home countries.

The economic recovery in 2021 was due to the resilience of remittance flows seen in 2020. It had also declined by a modest 1.7 per cent to $549 billion in the face of one of the deepest global recessions.

It noted that in many low- and middle-income countries, migrants were unable to their support to families back home, especially to countries affected by the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant.