Money Sent Back by Migrants

Money sent or brought back by migrants refers to remittances a country has received this year.

Scale: Money sent or brought back by migrants as a percentage of GDP.

Direction of Change

REMITTANCES HAVE DECLINED SHARPLY SINCE THE LATE 1990s

Remittances as a share of GDP were exceptionally high at the end of the 1990s, reflecting post-war displacement, large diaspora outflows, and heavy reliance on income earned abroad. After 1998, the share decreased rapidly, falling by more than half by the early 2000s as Bosnia and Herzegovina moved out of the immediate post-conflict phase and domestic economic stabilisation began. Through the 2000s and 2010s, remittances continued to trend downward, though at a slower pace, stabilising at low single-digit levels with only minor year-to-year fluctuations. The most recent decade shows modest variation but no return to the elevated levels of the late 1990s. Viewed across key milestone years, the pattern is one of steady, long-term decline from a very high baseline to a structurally lower, more stable range.

Global Rank

Compared with all geographic entities listed in the Index

Note: Population-weighted averages for Europe and the world.

Regional Rank

Compared with six former Yugoslav countries and Albania

Note: In 1995, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo were part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

1998 (highest → lowest): Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Croatia, North Macedonia, Slovenia.

2024 (highest → lowest): Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Croatia, North Macedonia, Slovenia

Conclusion

Over the past quarter-century, remittances have shifted from a dominant post-war economic lifeline to a modest, steady inflow that no longer plays the outsized role it once did.

Source: World Bank staff estimates based on IMF and OECD data (2025) – processed by Our World in Data.