In 2024, West African nations hold six spots of the top 15 Africa's Importance of Remittance Index, led by Senegal (77)

  • West Africa dominates Africa’s top 15, holding six positions on the remittance importance index.
  • Zimbabwe (78) ranks as Africa’s top country in terms of remittances' importance.
  • Senegal (77) and Nigeria (72) highlight the central role of diaspora inflows in West Africa’s economies.
  • Morocco (74) leads North Africa in remittance importance.
  • Smaller nations like Lesotho (68) and Liberia (68) depend heavily on remittances relative to their GDP.
  • The lowest-ranked countries, including Angola (9) and Djibouti (11), rely minimally on remittance inflows.

Remittances continue to play a vital role in shaping Africa’s economic and social landscape, and in 2024, West African nations dominated the continent’s remittance index. The data reveals that six out of Africa’s top 15 countries on the index are from West Africa, led by Senegal (77), Nigeria (72), and Ghana (69). This dominance highlights the crucial role of diaspora inflows in supporting livelihoods, stabilising foreign exchange, and supplementing household incomes across the region.

For countries like Senegal and Nigeria, remittances often serve as a buffer against economic shocks. In many households, money sent from abroad helps fund education, healthcare, and small business investments.

Source:

Remitscope

Period:

2024
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Egypt leads African remittance recipients in 2024 with $22.7B, while Nigeria trails behind with $19.8B
  • Africa received $96.4 billion in remittances in 2024.
  • Egypt ($22.7B) and Nigeria ($19.8B) dominated inflows, accounting for nearly half of the continent’s total.
  • Egypt’s 16% growth reflects stronger remittance networks and economic linkages with its diaspora.
  • Nigeria’s inflows grew modestly (1%).
  • Ghana recorded the highest growth (91%), indicating a resurgence in diaspora remittances.
  • Zimbabwe (-6%) and Tunisia (-3%) experienced declines, pointing to potential disruptions in inflow channels.
Over $3.2 billion was sent abroad from Nigeria from 2000 to 2023, with a $1 billion spike in 2015 standing out
  • Migrants living in Nigeria sent out over $3.2 billion in personal remittances between 2000 and 2023.
  • The year 2015 recorded a sharp and unusual outflow of $1.04 billion, the highest by far in the entire 24-year span.
  • After 2015, remittance outflows sharply declined, stabilising below $100 million from 2018 onward.
  • Prior to 2015, outflows were consistently under $110 million annually, indicating a major anomaly in that spike year.
Nigeria has received $430B in remittances since 2000, peaking at $24.3B in 2018
  • Nigeria received a total of approximately $430 billion in remittances between 2000 and 2023.
  • The highest amount recorded was in 2018, when remittances peaked at $24.31 billion.
  • In 2020, inflows dropped significantly to $17.21 billion due to the global COVID-19 crisis.
  • Between 2021 and 2023, remittances remained stable, averaging around $19.7 billion per year.
India's remittance inflow grew by 828% in 24 years — maintaining the top spot for 21 of them
  • India led globally for 21 of 24 years, followed by China (2) and Mexico (1)
  • No African country ever topped global remittance inflow rankings
  • Nigeria ranked among the top 10 recipients for several of the years
  • India’s dominance reflects its large global diaspora and steady labour migration
  • China’s brief lead came in the early 2000s but it was overtaken quickly
  • Mexico in the top spot for one year was tied to strong remittance links with the US
  • The top countries rarely changed, showing a stable global remittance pattern
  • Most global leaders have large populations abroad in high-income economies
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Nigeria led Africa in remittance inflows for 13 of the past 24 years
  • Egypt had the highest total remittance inflows across all years in the dataset.
  • Nigeria was consistently among the top 3 recipients every year, topping the chart for 13 years.
  • Morocco and Ghana showed strong, stable inflows throughout the 2000–2023 period.
  • Kenya and Senegal experienced some of the fastest remittance growth from 2000 to recent years.
  • Rwanda had high percentage growth, though starting from a small base.
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Malawi recorded its biggest year-on-year growth rate in remittance in 2003 with 1547.5%
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