Remittances to developing countries in Asia help improve their economies with the net gains from exporting labor, and improve the lives of the poor people forced to work overseas—often for decades—because jobs are lacking at home.

A small gain in the contribution of remittances to gross domestic product has led to huge declines in poverty in 10 developing countries, notably Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in South Asia; and the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand in East and Southeast Asia.

A 1% rise between 1981 and 2014 parallels with a 22.6% decline in the poverty gap ratio and a 16.0% decline in the poverty severity ratio—taking into account the average poor household’s spending and the minimum income needed to pay for basic everyday needs.

Read the transcript

http://bit.ly/2xtH4Do

Read the blog post

https://www.asiapathways-adbi.org/2017/08/international-remittances-and-poverty-reduction/

Read the working paper

https://www.adb.org/publications/international-remittances-and-poverty-reduction

Authors

Naoyuki Yoshino is the ADBI dean

https://www.adb.org/adbi/about/dean

Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary is a professor of economics at Keio University, Tokyo

https://www.asiapathways-adbi.org/author/farhad-taghizadeh-hesary/

Miyu Otsuka is a graduate student of economics at Keio University, Tokyo, and Science Po University in Paris

https://www.asiapathways-adbi.org/author/miyu-otsuka/

Know more about ADBI’s work on remittances

http://bit.ly/2zb1wpK