Tribune News Network
DOHA
Expatriate residents in Qatar remitted $10.42 bn in 2015 with India topping the list of receiving countries.
Indian expatriates remitted $3.98 bn during the year, while remittances to Nepal stood second at $2.02 bn, according to a report by Pew Research Center.
The remittances show a slight increase from $10.01 bn in 2014, according to World Bank figures.
In 2015, the Philippines accounted for $1.16 bn in remittances from Qatar while Egypt received $1.05 bn. Bangladeshis sent home $0.52 bn, with Sri Lankans closely behind at $0.52 bn. Pakistani residents in Qatar remitted $0.42 bn, Pew Research said.
Worldwide, an estimated $582 bn was sent by migrants to relatives in their home countries in 2015, a 2 percent decline from 2014, when the amount was $592 bn. This is the first drop in global remittances since 2009, when they fell by $28 bn amid the global financial crisis.
Despite the recent decline, remittances by migrants are still about double than a decade ago, before the sharp decline in the global economy during the late 2000s.
And, with the exception of 2009, migrant remittances worldwide have steadily climbed since the World Bank began releasing estimates in 1970, the report said.
The volume of migrant remittances is closely tied to the increase in migrant populations. The number of international migrants (people who live in a country other than their country of birth) has grown from about 191 mn in 2005 to more than 243 mn today, even as the share of migrants the world's population has remained steady at about 3 percent.