The World Bank estimates that 2.122 million Colombians, 4.6% of the population, are living abroad, and that the country will receive $3.9 billion in remittances in 2010.
This will mark the lowest level of remittances since 2006, and a significant drop from 2009 when Colombia received $4.18 billion in remittances.
Latin America and the Caribbean will receive a total of $58.1 billion in remittance in 2010. Mexico will received the highest level of remittances at $22.6 billion, followed by Brazil, Guatemala and Colombia. Last year Colombia was not among the top ten Latin American countries in receiving remittances.
According to the Wold Bank’s Remittance Outlook 2010, “remittance flows to Latin America and the Caribbean declined by 12% in 2009 due to the financial crisis in the US, but have started recovering, registering a modest 2 percent growth in 2010.”
The outlook also predicts that “remittance flows to Latin America and the Caribbean [will] increase steadily by 7.6 percent in 2011 and 10 percent in 2012 to reach $69 billion in 2012.”
The World Bank expects that 30.2 million people will have emigrated from Latin American countries by the end of 2010. The top destinations for Colombian emigrants are the U.S., Venezuela, and Spain.
On the other hand, Colombia is home to 110,000 immigrants, most of whom will come from Venezuela, the United States and Ecuador.