Migration and development brief 35: Recovery: COVID-19 crisis through a migration lens

This Migration and Development Brief provides updates on global trends in migration and remittances. It highlights developments related to migration-related Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators for which the World Bank is a custodian: increasing the volume of remittances as a percentage of gross domestic product (SDG indicator 17.3.2) and reducing remittance costs (SDG indicator 10.c.1). In 2021, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are projected to reach $[587] billion, registering a [7.1] percent increase. The recovery in 2021 follows the resilience of flows seen in 2020, when remittances recorded only a modest [1.9] percent decline to $[548] billion, in the face of one of the deepest recorded global recessions. Remittances now stand more than three-fold above official development assistance (ODA) and, excluding China, more than 50 percent higher than foreign direct investment (FDI).