Remittances – money transfers from US-based workers to family and friends abroad – are a big business. In 2020, remittances to Latin America totaled more than $100 billion. And according to the World Bank, remittances make up more than 20% of the GDP of El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, and Jamaica.
Economics aside, the social impact of remittances is also significant. Remittances are typically monetary, but they are far from simply transactional: they are tangible reminders to foreign friends and family that they are far from forgotten.
