Study shows half expats send home remittances

Allowances help to improve life at home

More than half of expats send money back home, 25 percent of whom do so regularly, according to 'The Financial Support of Expats' study.

Published by the Observatoire universitaire de la réalité socio-économique (Ourse) of the Saint Joseph University, the study claims that expats in the GCC, which has the highest percentage worldwide, and those in Africa send the most. The average annual amount sent by an expat in Africa is $9,000, for an expat in the GCC $8,100 and for an expat in Europe $4,300.

The study said that 61.4 percent of household remittances are used for food, around 59 percent is used for housing and about 54 percent to improve living standards. Around 41 percent of households rely on remittances for secondary and university level education.

“Most of the expats are men, while women are showing more trends to emigrate,” said Professor Choghig Kasparian, author of the study.

Remittances lead to an improvement of household living standards and to a more equitable distribution of incomes among family members. In addition, said Kasparian, “We notice less indebtedness of households receiving remittances compared to households not receiving such remittances.”

The study is based on a survey taken in 2012 and covering 2,000 households, including 7,471 local respondents and 3,356 expats.