Name: What are Remittances? | Back to Basics
Uploaded: 2026-02-27T14:50:53.000Z
Duration: 3 min 11 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Present continuous

Modal verbs - A2

Now, there's a lot of stuff that I could spend this on.

Future simple

But before I do that, I'll send some of this off to my brother who can put it to good use.

You see, there are hundreds of millions of people like me who work outside of their home country.

Because sometimes people have to go where the opportunity is, or where the instability isn't.

That often means leaving families behind and earning a living elsewhere,

but still sending money home for support.

These money transfers are often called "remittances."

Communication and financial technology make it easier than ever to send money across borders.

You pick the amount, pick the beneficiary, make sure all the information is correct, and send.

Now I can pay for the doctor to look at my neck and get back to work.

Sending money back home makes it possible for people who live in wealthier countries to help family pay for the basics:

food, housing, education, and medical expenses.

Remittances help reduce poverty by moving money where it can make a bigger difference for the people and countries who receive it.

This helps spur investment and entrepreneurship, and build savings that can help promote growth and development.

So while this amount may get me a dinner and a movie here,

for my brother, it could help cover his rent or pay for those doctor's bills.

In low and middle-income countries, remittances can actually make up a good portion of economic activity—

For example, Mexico's remittances exceed revenue from oil exports.

In Sri Lanka, they're greater than the value of the tea trade.

And in Egypt, remittances are worth more than its income from the Suez Canal.

And they're also an increasing portion of the global GDP.

In 2022, remittances amounted to US$831 billion.

And that's just through official channels,

This money mainly flows into low and middle-income countries,

where it adds up to more than foreign investments and development aid combined.

One downside for those countries, though, is the cost of sending money through a service.

Lowering the average service charge to just 3% would mean an extra $30 billion every year for low-income and developing countries.

And that's money that would be better spent on family and friends.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

What are Remittances? | Back to Basics

stuff

opportunity

majority

average