In 2020, flows of money sent by residents of the EU to non-EU countries, referred to as personal transfers, amounted to €34.1 bn, a 3% increase compared with €33.2 bn in 2019. The majority of personal transfers consist of flows of money sent by migrants to their country of origin. Inflows to the EU totalled €12.0 bn, a 6% decrease compared with the €12.8 bn registered in 2019.
This information comes from data published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.
The extra-EU outflows have maintained a growing trend since 2015, having increased by 33% since that year. But, as the inflows have remained constant, this has resulted in an increased negative balance of €22.1 bn for the EU vis-á-vis non-EU countries in 2020.
Source dataset: bop_rem6
Weight of net personal transfers of the EU economies
In 2020, Croatia (2.7%), Romania (1.4%) and Latvia (1.3%) generated surpluses of personal transfers that contribute to more than 1% of their respective GDP. In contrast, France and Spain generated deficits of personal transfers representing -0.5% of their respective GDP vis-à-vis the rest of the world.
Source dataset: bop_rem6 and nama_10_gdp
For more information:
- Eurostat Statistics Explained article on personal remittances statistics
- Eurostat database on the balance of payments
- Eurostat dedicated section on the balance of payments
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