Raynor de Best
Content expert covering payments and (crypto)currencies
Remittance flow in Mexico - statistics & facts
Remittance flows to Mexico are significant, being even larger than some of the cross-border money transfers received by emerging economies in Asia. Ranking as the world's second-highest receiver of money from migrant workers abroad, Mexico depends on such payments more than most countries in Latin America. From where is this money coming from? Which brands are commonly used? And how many of such transfers are conducted digitally?
It is expected more research and insights are to come on remittances in the coming years - focusing on cash transactions, higher frequency data drops, or user demographics. Mexico's name will likely be one of the first to be mentioned in such discussions, as the country plays such a key role in remittances worldwide.
Sent from the U.S.A.
Nearly all the remittances Mexico received from abroad came from either the United States or Canada in 2021. Mexican migrants in the U.S. were responsible for over 97 percent of remittances sent back to their home country that year. This made Mexico the Latin American country that relied on U.S. remittances the most, ahead of Guatemala and El Salvador. Indeed, some of the world's largest remittance flows between individual countries were at most half the size of this U.S. to Mexico corridor. For example, the remittance between the United States and the Philippines was worth 11.9 billion U.S. dollars, rather than 52.5 billion U.S. dollars between the U.S. and Mexico.MoneyGram cheaper to use toward Mexico
Remittances are a relatively uncharted topic, and this has been especially noticeable when investigating individual brands. Based on the number of remittance channels on offer - not the number or value of remittances - MoneyGram has the highest market share of brands used in remittances from the U.S. to Mexico. Typically, migrant flows between countries can be estimated. Figures on how much of this money is processed by banks, money transfer organizations (MTOs), or digital sources (blockchain, etc.), however, are typically not known. A potential reason why MoneyGram has more remittance channels is MoneyGram's relatively low cost in Mexico compared to Western Union.Are digital means, such as crypto, taking over remittances to Mexico?
Often discussed as being a cheaper alternative to brands like MoneyGram, no exact numbers exist on the market size of remittances sent via cryptocurrency. Mexico's crypto adoption ranks outside the top 10 in the world, and focuses on centralized trade. P2P trading - between individuals - ranked the lowest of several use cases listed. Overall, Mexicans receive remittances digitally - with the value of remittances received by electronic means in Mexico was over 57 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Mexicans who send money back, however, typically use non-digital means when starting the remittances process.It is expected more research and insights are to come on remittances in the coming years - focusing on cash transactions, higher frequency data drops, or user demographics. Mexico's name will likely be one of the first to be mentioned in such discussions, as the country plays such a key role in remittances worldwide.
