JAKARTA - The International Organization for Migration’s latest World Migration Report 2026 Chapter 4 update puts remittance costs at the centre of migration and development policy. 

The chapter warns that remittance fees still take too much from migrant earnings before the money reaches families at home. Clearer pricing and better access to formal services would help more migrants avoid costly transfer channels.

“Lower costs and greater transparency mean migrants can send more funds home through formal channels,” the chapter says.

IOM’s World Migration Report 2026 says migrants sent an estimated USD 905 billion globally in 2024, including USD 685 billion to low- and middle-income countries. The World Bank said remittances to low- and middle-income countries in 2024 were larger than foreign direct investment and official development assistance combined.

The World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide database says the global average cost of sending remittances was 6.36 percent in the third quarter of 2025. That remains above the Sustainable Development Goal target of less than 3 percent by 2030.

The World Bank estimated South Asia received USD 207 billion in remittances in 2024. East Asia and Pacific received USD 136 billion. India, China, the Philippines and Pakistan were among the world’s major remittance recipients, making transfer fees a direct income issue for millions of households across the region.

In the latest World Bank country-level data, remittances equalled 3.5 percent of GDP in India, 8.7 percent in the Philippines, 0.2 percent in China and 9.4 percent in Pakistan. 

IOM’s wider report listed India to the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia, Indonesia to Malaysia and Myanmar to Thailand among major Asian migration routes in 2024. 

It also said that regular migration pathways remain uneven, leaving some workers more exposed to high recruitment costs, informal transfer channels and weaker protection when sending money home.