Remittances
Remittances are transfers of money sent by individuals working abroad to family or friends in their home country. They are a major component of current transfers in many economies and are recorded under secondary income in the current account of the balance of payments. Published in the Latin Macro Watch of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), this indicator lets economists, policymakers, and researchers track migrant income flows across Latin America and the Caribbean on a consistent, comparable basis.
Coverage
The series spans 21 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean at annual, monthly, and quarterly frequency, covering the period 1991 to 2026. Values are available in millions of USD as well as percent of GDP, percent of total exports, and percent of total imports, with year-to-date (YTD), fiscal-year (Q4–Q3 aggregation), and seasonally adjusted variants. Transformations include 3-, 6-, and 12-month moving averages (MA3, MA6, MA12) and month-over-month, quarter-over-quarter, and year-over-year percentage changes (MoM %, QoQ %, YoY %).
Sources
The data are drawn from national authorities including Banco Central do Brasil, Banco de Mexico (Banxico), Bank of Jamaica, and INDEC - Argentina, ensuring regionally comparable measures of remittance inflows.
Metadata & use
| Format | CSV |
|---|---|
| Language | en |
| Country |
Argentina
Bahamas
Trinidad & Tobago
Belize
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
El Salvador
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicaragua
Guatemala
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Panama
Uruguay
Venezuela
Barbados
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
|
| Data notes |
What are remittances in this indicator?Remittances are transfers of money sent by individuals working abroad to family or friends in their home country. They are recorded under secondary income in the current account of the balance of payments. How many countries and which frequencies and period are covered?The indicator covers 21 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, available at annual, monthly, and quarterly frequency, over the period 1991 to 2026. What units and transformations are available?Values are available in millions of USD and as percent of GDP, percent of total exports, and percent of total imports, with YTD, fiscal-year (Q4–Q3), and seasonally adjusted variants. Transformations include MA3, MA6, MA12 moving averages and MoM %, QoQ %, and YoY % changes. Where do the data come from?The data are drawn from national authorities such as Banco Central do Brasil, Banco de Mexico (Banxico), Bank of Jamaica, and INDEC - Argentina. What is this indicator typically used for?It is used to assess the importance of migrant income flows for household consumption, external accounts, and development financing, and to compare remittance dependence across Latin American and Caribbean economies. How do I cite this indicator?Cite it as: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Latin Macro Watch — "Remittances." data.iadb.org/dataset/latin-macro-watch-dataset. |