World Data Lab

Remittances are estimated to amount to over half a trillion dollars worldwide. Costs can range from as low as 1.5% to as high as 25%. Given that a large share of remittances are sent to rural areas, high costs can impact a recipient's purchasing power. As such, there are data gaps that need to be addressed in order to increase cost transparency and competition among remittances service providers since information such as global market prices and agent locations are traditionally opaque.