Since 2009 the average cost of sending remittances has decreased from 9.7% to 6.2% of the send amount (based on sending US$200 equivalent).
The cost of sending money using digital channels (from/to bank accounts, cards, and mobile wallets) is on average cheaper at 4.6% of the send amount.
Financial inclusion of adults globally, in terms of account ownership, has increased globally from 51% to 76% between 2011 and 2021 allowing many people to now access cheaper digital remittance services. Remittances are a valuable use-case to drive financial inclusion.
Efforts to narrow the gender gap in account ownership have paid off since 2017. The gender gap in account ownership across developing economies has fallen to 6 percentage points from 9 percentage points where it hovered for many years.
SDG 10.c to reduce the remittance costs to less than 3% by 2030 has not yet been met, and based on the current trajectory will only reach 4.5% by 2030.
The average cost of sending remittances to and within regions varies across the world, with 14% of corridors still over 10% of the send amount.
There are 135 million female adult migrants globally (source: International Migrant Stock 2020) and an estimated 400 million women that are receiving remittances every year.
Source: World Bank Group, Remittances Resources, Issue n. 47, September 2023.
