Pew Research
Thursday April 4, 2019
By Abby Budiman and Phillip Connor
Since 2009, Nigeria has received more than half of all remittances sent each year to sub-Saharan African countries. This photo shows 1,000 Nigerian naira banknotes. (Pius Utomi/AFP/Getty Images)
Money sent by immigrants to their home countries in sub-Saharan Africa
reached a record $41 billion in 2017. This represents a 10% jump in
remittances from the previous year, the largest annual growth for any
world region, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of World Bank data.
The increase follows a decline in remittances to sub-Saharan Africa
in 2016, when the region saw a 9% decrease over the previous year, by
far the largest regional drop in the world.
Worldwide, immigrants sent a record $625 billion (in 2018 U.S.
dollars) back to their home countries in 2017, a 7% increase from the
previous year. Strong economic growth in many major destination regions,
stabilizing oil prices and the appreciation of currencies against the
U.S. dollar helped fuel the first worldwide increase in remittances
since 2014, according to the World Bank. Remittances had declined in 2015 and 2016, the first back-to-back decline in remittances in over three decades.
Remittances are funds transferred by immigrants to people in their
home country. The total amount of money sent is likely much larger than
current estimates because only funds sent through formal channels such
as banks are included. This is especially true for regions like
sub-Saharan Africa, where just 40% use formal financial services and two-thirds of non-agriculture workers are part of the informal economy.
One-in-four (23%) migrants from sub-Saharan Africa live in Europe and the U.S.,
places where recent economic growth has helped sub-Saharan African
immigrants send home more remittances. Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Kenya
received the most remittances among sub-Saharan nations in 2017. These
four countries are also among the top origin countries for sub-Saharan migrants living in Europe and the U.S.
Since 2009, Nigeria has received more than half of all remittances
sent each year to sub-Saharan African countries, by far the largest
share of any country in the region. Its regional dominance is comparable to Mexico’s
in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2017, a record $22 billion in
remittances flowed to Nigeria, which has the region’s largest population
and economy. Ghana received less than $4 billion in remittances, the
second most in the region.
Remittances sent to Nigeria have increased since 2009, when the
country received $18 billion from immigrants. Nevertheless, Nigeria
accounted for a smaller share of remittances sent to sub-Saharan Africa
in 2017 (54%) than in 2009 (68%). The declining share is due to faster
growth in remittances received by other sub-Saharan nations.
Nigeria receives the largest share of remittances to the region despite an emigrant population of 1.3 million
that is smaller than that of Somalia (2 million) and South Sudan (1.8
million), which have the largest sub-Saharan emigrant populations, among
others. One reason for this is that many of Nigeria’s emigrants live in
countries with strong economies like the U.S. and the UK.
Remittances to sub-Saharan Africa are projected to increase
in coming years, according to the World Bank. The region’s population
growth is expected to continue, which has the potential to boost
migration and remittances sent to the region. Pew Research Center
surveys have also found that a substantial share of Nigerians and Kenyans plan to leave their countries to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Note: See details on our regional grouping of countries here.