Mexico is the second largest diaspora country and the third largest recipient of remittances sent by migrant workers. The more than 11 million people of Mexican origin transferred from abroad more than 43,000 million dollars in one year. In contrast, only 1.2 million immigrants live here, sending less than $ 1 billion home, according to the 2022 World Migration Report.
The document of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) took into account the number of remittances sent to Mexico in 2020. But last Monday the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) reported that from January to November 2021 the country received 46,834 million dollars in remittances.
Most of the Mexican migrant population is in the United States, the report confirms. It also points out that that country has remained, since 1970, as the world’s largest recipient of emigrants and immigrants: the American dream, of a life of work, but with good remuneration, continues in force. But something has changed, more people from Central America seek to reach that nation and, at the same time, there are fewer undocumented immigrants. The latter is due to the fact that they are being returned to Mexico.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted inequalities “deeply ingrained in modern societies around the world,” the IOM notes in the report. And it has also shown that migrant workers have not only been fundamental to carry out “essential occupations, but are also agents of global human development”, since contribute to the country’s productivity where they reside and send remittances to where they come from.
“Aside from the health-related impacts, many were trapped in immobility and unemployed, without income support or other social protection. The pandemic led to stranded migrant populations on a large scale, with some experiencing homelessness, detention and abuse. “
According to the report, around the world there are over 281 million migrants, that is, 3.6% of the global population. 48% are women, in addition, 14.6% are girls and boys. More than 169 million are workers who circulate 702,000 million dollars in remittances.
Mexico, from country of origin to recipient
With nearly 18 million people living abroad, India has the largest migrant population and is also the largest recipient of remittances – $ 83 billion a year. After Mexico, the third country of migratory origin is Russia, with 10.8 million people who have left its borders.
After India, China is the second largest recipient of remittances, with almost 60 million dollars. As mentioned before, Mexico is the third. “The existing data indicates a global increase in remittances in recent decades, going from 126,000 million dollars in 2000 to 702,000 million dollars in 2020 “, says the report. “Despite predictions of a large decline due to covid-19, in 2020 the drop was slight, 2.4%, from the global total for 2019.”
Since 1995, Mexico has remained in the top five in remittances. In 2005 it became the second country, but it has always fluctuated between third and fourth place.
The report indicates that high-income countries “are almost, without exception, the main sources of remittances.” In 2020, migrant workers sent more than $ 68 billion from the United States to their countries of origin.
“Migration to North America is a key feature in the Latin American and Caribbean region. In 2020, more than 25 million migrants had made the journey north ”and resided in that region. Another 5 million migrants from Latin America left for Europe in 2020.
However, the number of undocumented migrants in the United States has decreased, “in part due to return migration to Mexico.” In 2018, according to the IOM, about 11.4 million people lived in the United States without a regulated stay. But a publication of the Center for Migration Studies estimates that that population decreased 12% percent since 2010, “Driven in large part by the return of approximately 1.9 million irregular migrants to Mexico.”
In recent years there has been a “growing diversity in the countries of origin of irregular migrants living in the United States”, as it observes an increase in the undocumented population of Central America and Asia, mainly from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela and India. Most of these people cross through Mexico and a good part have decided to stay to work here.
According to the report, while migrant workers prefer high-income countries, since 2013 this has been changing. The richest countries had a drop of 7.3 percentage points, from 74.7% to 67.4% of the total workforce. While middle-income countries, such as Mexico, observed an increase of 7.8 percentage points, in 2013 they had 11.7% of migrant workers.
This change “may be influenced by economic growth in middle-income countries and / or changes in labor immigration regulations in high-income countries.” For example, at the beginning of December the Joe Biden government relaunched the Stay in Mexico program, created by Donald Trump, through which non-Mexican migrants are sent to Mexico to wait here for permission to enter their country.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx