Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean will reach US$155 billion in 2023 according to projections based on statistics from the central banks of the region. It is the 13th year of uninterrupted growth. Although the analysis by country shows more variation, remittances to the region have grown every year this century with the exception of 2009 during the global financial crisis. México remains the principal recipient of remittances in the region, with 41.2% of the total sent to LAC. Central America received 28.2% of regional remittances income, the Caribbean accounted for 11.7%, and South America 18.9%.
The growth in 2023 of 9.5% is in line with the average rate of the past 10 years (8.4%), down from the rate in 2022. Remittances to Mexico increased 9.8%, to Central America 13.2%, and to the Caribbean grew 2.6%. Remittances to South America grew 7.9%, mainly due to substantial increases to Argentina (26.3%) and Paraguay (20.3%) sparked by the significant devaluations of the Argentine currency.
On average, remittances to LAC were equivalent to only 2.5% of GDP in 2023, unchanged from 2022. But for many countries in the region, remittances represent much higher fractions of the economy. Central America and the Caribbean average 12.7% and 9.4%, respectively, reaching 27.3% in Honduras and 20.6% in Jamaica, for example. In Mexico, despite being the main recipient country, remittances equate to only 3.9% of GDP, and in South America the average is only 0.7%.
Flows of remittances will be affected by the economic conditions in the countries that host the diaspora from each country. Although many countries do not publish remittances statistics by country of origin, estimates are presented below of the distribution of origins for each country based on statistics from 2022. In most countries, especially Mexico and Central America, high percentages of remittances come from the United States, while there are more significant percentages originating from Europe, especially in South America.
For a detailed analysis of remittances flows to the region in 2023
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