This is a big step forward: until now, there was no globally comparable picture of who depends on international remittances, and the numbers are striking. At a global level, the Report notes that fewer than one in ten adults in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) receive remittances from abroad.
However, the country-level results tell a different story. In Senegal and Tajikistan, nearly half of adults’ report receiving international remittances. In The Gambia, Kosovo, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, more than one in three do. In the average LMIC, close to 20 per cent of adults receive them.
The new disaggregation shows the prevalence of international remittances among rural households. In rural Tajikistan, more than half of adults report receiving them, while in rural Senegal and Kosovo the share is over a third. In the “average” LMIC, about one in five rural households depend on international remittances.
Source: RemitSCOPE Africa
The data highlights that women are significant recipients too. In Tajikistan and Senegal, nearly one in two women received international remittances in the past year. In The Gambia and Kosovo, nearly 40 per cent of women did underlining the central role remittances play in women’s financial lives.
RemitSCOPE.org: Meeting the demand for remittance data
RemitSCOPE.org, the one-stop platform for remittance and remittance-related data, has now been updated with the latest Findex results on international and domestic remittances, including gender and rural–urban breakdowns, plus indicators on digital domestic remittances sent and received. These updates sit alongside the newest World Bank remittance inflow data (2024), remittance pricing data (Q1 2025), migration statistics (2024), and central-bank–reported inflows and outflows, as well as financial inclusion indicators (2024), operating-environment links and market insights.
The release of the new Findex data is a major step forward in showing who receives remittances. Yet improving remittance markets requires more than recipient numbers. To unlock their potential for migrants, their families and economies, we need a broader evidence base: how money moves, what it costs, where the gaps are, and which solutions are scaling. That is what RemitSCOPE brings together in one place.
Whether you are a private sector player looking to grow your business, a regulator shaping policy, a development partner designing financial inclusion programmes, or a researcher exploring remittance trends, RemitSCOPE is the go-to tool for your data needs.
This push for better data aligns with global commitments, reaffirmed at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Sevilla (in the Compromiso de Sevilla), to reduce remittance costs, accelerate digital solutions, and advance financial inclusion for migrants and their families, with a particular focus on rural households and on creating conducive policies and regulatory frameworks that foster competitive and innovative remittance markets. Integrated, disaggregated data is essential both to target action and to track progress.
Closing data gaps to deliver on global commitments
There are still gaps. The Findex does not yet show whether international remittances were received in cash or digitally, nor how receipt links to account use, savings or other financial behaviours. Comparable measures of household dependency and amounts received remain limited in global datasets.
The good news: central banks, regulators and national statistics agencies are actively closing these gaps, improving reporting and disaggregation, building the evidence needed to strengthen remittance markets and expand financial inclusion.
