Mexico's remittances surged 27% in 2021 to $51.6 billion
Mexico’s central bank says the money migrants send home to their relatives grew by 27.1% in 2021 to $51.6 billion
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Mexico’s central bank says remittances — the money migrants send home to their relatives — grew by 27.1% in 2021 to total about $51.6 billion for the year as a whole.
That is a record amount, despite the coronavirus pandemic, and would surpass almost all other sources of Mexico’s foreign income, including tourism, oil exports and most manufacturing exports.
The bank said Tuesday the phenomenon doesn't appear to be tailing off; remittances in December grew to $4.76 billion, 30.4% more than in the same month of 2020.
Remittances as a percentage of Mexico’s GDP have almost doubled over the past decade, growing from 2% of GDP in 2010 to 3.8% in 2020, according to the government. Between 2010 and 2020, the percentage of households in Mexico receiving remittances grew from 3.6% to 5.1%.
Mexico is now the third largest receiver of remittances in the world, behind only India and China and Mexico now accounts for about 6.1% of world remittances, according to a government report.
On one hand, the spike may be simply a matter of need, caused in part by the coronavirus pandemic. Mexico’s GDP shrank 8.5% in 2020, and while the economy rebounded by 5% in 2021, the last two quarters of the year showed a slight contraction, leading the country into a technical recession.
That may have led migrants to send more money to their families at home.
“When a Mexican family suffers illness or their household suffers damage, they receive more. … Why? Because, basically, they ask for help," said Agustín Escobar, a professor at Mexico’s Center for Research and Higher Education in Social Anthropology.
Part of that growth also may have been fueled by strong labor markets and job opportunities for migrants in the United States.