Imagine a day dedicated to celebrating the hard work and love that connect families across borders. The International Day of Family Remittances does just that.
This event highlights the efforts of over 200 million migrant workers who send money home to support their families. These contributions are vital, helping over 800 million people worldwide improve their lives and build a better future.
How to Celebrate International Day of Family Remittances
Celebrating the International Day of Family Remittances on June 16 can be meaningful and impactful. Here are some suggestions to honor this day:
Educate and Spread Awareness
Share information with your circle about the importance of remittances for families and communities globally. Highlight how these contributions support education, healthcare, and basic living needs, especially in rural areas.
Social Media Campaigns
Use social media platforms to increase awareness about the day. Create and share posts, stories, or videos that highlight the significance of remittances and the positive impact they have on millions of lives. Consider using relevant hashtags to reach a wider audience.
Support Migrant Workers
If you know migrant workers, showing appreciation for their hard work and sacrifices can be powerful. This could be as simple as offering a meal, a token of appreciation, or just a thank you to acknowledge their contributions.
Engage with Financial Services
Companies like Moneytrans and Small World, which specialize in financial services for migrants, often have initiatives or information campaigns around this day. Engaging with such platforms can provide insights into making remittance processes more efficient and less costly.
Participate in Events
Look for events or webinars focusing on the impact of remittances and the challenges faced by migrant workers. These events can be a great way to learn more, share experiences, and connect with others who are interested in the subject.
Volunteer or Donate
Consider supporting organizations that work towards improving the lives of migrant workers and their families. Volunteering your time or making a donation can contribute to making a tangible difference.
Why Celebrate International Day of Family Remittances
This special day is not just about recognizing the financial support provided by migrants. It’s about understanding the significant impact these funds have on communities and economies around the globe.The money sent home goes towards education, healthcare, and basic living expenses. Therefore, it is crucial in lifting families out of poverty and driving economic growth in developing countries.
Why do we celebrate? Because these remittances are a lifeline for millions. They help families afford food, shelter, and education, often in places where such essentials are hard to come by.
The day also highlights the need to reduce the cost of sending money internationally. That would make it easier and more affordable for migrant workers to support their loved ones back home. By acknowledging their contributions, we not only honor the migrants but also encourage more supportive policies and practices worldwide.
International Day of Family Remittances Timeline
Irish Remittances Begin To Be Officially Tracked
The British Post Office starts recording money orders and bank drafts sent from emigrants abroad to families in Ireland, revealing remittances as a vital “invisible income” that supports rural households for generations.
Transatlantic Money Transfers Become Easier
By the early 1870s, U.S. institutions such as Western Union and major banks offered relatively secure, routine money transfers to Europe, making it far simpler for migrants in America to send cash home to their families.
Italy Adopts Emigration Law To Safeguard Remittances
Italy passes a landmark emigration law that encourages migrants to use official financial channels for remittances, aiming to protect workers’ savings and ensure money reaches relatives safely in their home villages.
European Economies Rely Heavily On Migrant Remittances
Research on the gold standard era shows that countries such as Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Austria‑Hungary depend on large migrant remittance inflows, which help households and also stabilize national balance‑of‑payments positions.
World Bank Launches Global Remittance Price Database
The World Bank starts the Remittance Prices Worldwide database, the first system to track the cost of sending money across hundreds of corridors, providing transparency that underpins global efforts to cut remittance fees.
G8 Leaders Set “5×5” Remittance Cost Reduction Goal
At the L’Aquila summit, G8 countries endorsed the “5×5” objective, committing to work toward cutting average global remittance costs from about 10 percent to 5 percent within five years through competition and policy reform.
UN Adopts SDG Target On Cheaper Remittances
With the 2030 Agenda, UN Member States agree on SDG target 10.c, which calls for reducing remittance transaction costs to less than 3 percent and eliminating corridors where costs exceed 5 percent, solidifying remittances in global development policy.
History of International Day of Family Remittances
The International Day of Family Remittances (IDFR) has a rich history that reflects the evolving recognition of the vital role that remittances play in the lives of families and communities around the globe.
The idea for the day started in 2013 and it was led by the IFAD, International Fund for Agricultural Development, which is a branch of the UN. The inaugural celebration was held in 2015 and the day was officially recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018.
This event highlights the contributions of over 200 million migrants who improve the lives of their family members back home. The day not only acknowledges the significant financial contributions of migrants but also emphasizes the need to lower the cost of sending money home and to promote financial inclusion through remittances.
The IDFR aims to draw attention to the impact these contributions have on millions of households, communities, and countries, encouraging actions that maximize the positive effects of remittances.
The tradition of sending remittances is not new and has deep historical roots. For instance, countries like Italy, Spain, and Ireland have relied heavily on remittances from their emigrants since the 19th century. Italy became the first country to enact a law protecting remittances in 1901.
By 1960, Spain signed an international treaty with Argentina to reduce the cost of receiving remittances. The importance of understanding and managing remittance flows led to the World Bank establishing the first international database of remittance prices in 2008.
Remittances play a crucial role in improving the well-being of family members in the migrants’ home countries and boosting the economies of receiving countries. They are often used to cover essential expenses such as food, healthcare, and education, contributing significantly to rural development and poverty alleviation.
The observance of IDFR reminds us of the resilience of migrant workers and the critical support they provide to their families. It highlights the interconnectedness of global communities and the shared goal of achieving sustainable development for all.
International Day of Family Remittances Facts
Remittances Now Rival Major Global Financial Flows
In recent decades, money that migrants send home has quietly become one of the largest financial flows to low- and middle-income countries, often larger than foreign aid and in some cases rivaling foreign direct investment.
The World Bank and OECD report that remittances to developing countries rose from roughly US$150 billion in the early 2000s to about US$656 billion in 2023, making them a more stable source of external finance than many private capital flows.
A Lifeline That Can Cut Poverty Rates in Double Digits
Household-level studies show that receiving remittances can measurably lower poverty.
World Bank research summarized by the IMF found that international remittances reduced the poverty headcount by nearly 11 percentage points in Uganda, 6 points in Bangladesh, and 5 points in Ghana during the 1990s, largely by boosting household income for food, housing, schooling, and health care.
More Than Consumption: How Families Invest Remittance Money
While remittances first cover basics like food and rent, surveys in Latin America and other regions show that as income rises, families increasingly use part of this money for long-term goals.
The Inter-American Development Bank reports that recipient households are more likely to invest in better housing, school fees, health services, and small businesses than similar non-recipient households, turning “money for survival” into capital for mobility.
Fuel for Local Banks and Financial Inclusion
Remittances do more than support family budgets; they also help deepen financial systems.
A cross-country study of 99 developing nations between 1975 and 2003 found that when remittances rise by 1 percent of GDP, private-sector bank credit increases by roughly 0.3 percentage points of GDP and bank deposits by about 0.5 to 0.6 points.
This suggests that steady inflows encourage banks and money transfer services to expand accounts, branches, and products in migrant-sending communities.
Remarkably Resilient During Global Crises
Compared with fickle portfolio investment, remittance flows tend to hold up when crises hit.
OECD, IMF, and World Bank analyses show that during periods when foreign direct investment and other capital flows to developing countries dropped sharply, remittances often continued to grow or fell only mildly, as migrants tightened their own budgets to keep supporting relatives back home.
This stability has made remittances a crucial buffer against economic shocks in many poorer countries.
An Economic Mainstay for Some Countries’ GDP
For a growing list of countries, remittances are not a side stream but a core part of the national economy.
World Bank data show that in more than 60 countries, remittance inflows equal at least 3 percent of GDP, and in some small or fragile states, they exceed 10 percent.
Recent IFAD figures highlight cases such as Morocco, where transfers from migrants amounted to over 8 percent of GDP in 2024, shaping everything from exchange rates to public finances.
Supporting Families in the World’s Most Fragile States
In highly fragile settings, remittances can outweigh official aid. IFAD estimates that in “highly and extremely fragile contexts,” money sent home by migrants now accounts for up to half of all external development finance.
In 2023, remittance flows to these fragile contexts surpassed US$134 billion, nearly double the level in 2010, helping households cope with conflict, climate shocks, and weak state institutions.
