Countries Which Receive the Most Remittances

Yeah, they surprised me too.

Free movement in the EU, means that a lot of people choose to find higher paying jobs in places such as the UK. They often have English as a 2nd language taught from early on, so can earn much more than they potentially could in the same role in Ukraine for example.

Yes this is probably the case. Here in the UK there are a variety of people from all over Europe working in all kinds of jobs. Likely accounts for France, Ukraine etc.

Yes. For instance the Swiss cities Geneva and Basle have entire suburbs across the border inside France, and most people there commute to Switzerland every day. I guess their earnings count as "remittances"? Also virtually all employees in stone-rich Monaco are French.

This is a good point, as both France and Belgium are French speaking and border each other.

The pattern is countries that have a large diaspora working as expats in other countries, but at the same time don't have too many expats from other countries working in them.

Probably helps to have lived and worked in countries that are full of expats earning and remitting money home like the United States and Saudi Arabia. Then you would have run into people from almost all of these places.

I’d agree. I guessed Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, etc. for that reason. All with people coming to other countries to play sports.

When I was in Nepal, I was shocked at how much of the wealth in the countrysides seemed to come from remittances. Unemployment was staggering and it was considered normal for a family to send at least one member to Dubai for a couple years as kitchen staff or construction.

I suspect that most of the Nepali people in Pennsylvania are stateless refugees from Bhutan. I knew of some Nepali people in Harrisburg and they told me that there is a whole street dedicated to Nepali businesses there. In this case, they send less remittances than workers in the Gulf or the large community of Nepali immigrants in Australia, as their communities back home are completely fragmented.

Yep, right on! Many of the ethnic Nepalis where I live (which is part of the Harrisburg metro area) are from Bhutan and are refugees. Not sure if this is the street you are talking about, but there are tons and tons of Nepali businesses on Derry Street--if you take a look on Google Maps, you'll find the easternmost part of it is dominated by Nepali stores. I find it interesting that this street is evidently so famous among the Nepali community that you know of it without ever having visited Harrisburg!

And in regard to remittances you're also probably right--I just assumed that most of it was being sent to Nepal, but in hindsight, many of the refugees don't actually seem to have strong roots there and they often come as families and not individuals. You probably know more about this situation than I do.

Both in NYC and here in Korea there are a lot of Nepalis.

In Korea to get a visa, they first must pass a Korean language test, so they work in factories and other businesses that are better paying than farm work.

In NYC more are Tibetan and Sherpa than lowland Nepalis from Kathmandu, so they're settled rather than sojourners. Many have restaurants, but also have a wide range of jobs. Some are nannies who make about $70 per hour, despite having nearly no formal education.

I had some students who told me that. It was quite trendy for rich families to have nannies from Nepal. Many were not literate in any language, especially the women, but they spoke English very well.

I did notice a pattern here. Everything seems to be either:

European countries with loose borders, where people commute across the border often for work.

Underdeveloped countries with a large expat population.

The "help" is a curse that does a lot to destroy culture and community. Sad?

Is this what "developing" is code for?

Why are you "exhausted"?