Colombia leads the ranking of money transfers sent from Spain.

Remittances from Spain to abroad – money transfers made by workers – accounted for 0.7% of GDP (around €10.7 billion) in 2023, 0.5 percentage points more than in 2000, with Latin America accounting for 6% of the total, at 0.7%.

According to figures from the Bank of Spain, within this region, South America was the main destination, with 42% of total remittances sent in 2023, in line with the larger population of South American immigrants in Spain, although the percentage has decreased from 42%3.

Likewise, remittances sent to Central America and the Dominican Republic have increased, from 11% in 2013 to 15% in the years following the pandemic. This increase underscores the growing importance of this area as a source of migratory flows to Spain.

In contrast, the share of payments to Mexico has remained below 0.5% during this period, while transfers to the rest of Latin America have also increased their share, although they barely accounted for 1% in 2023.

The weight of Latin America

Among the top ten destination countries for remittances sent from Spain, seven are in Latin America, with Colombia playing a prominent role. Thus, over the last decade, Colombia has become the main recipient of remittances sent from Spain, in line with the increase in the Colombian resident population over the age of fifteen in Spain. Its relative share stood at 25% of remittances to Latin America in 2023, reaching €1.5 billion.

Ecuador is the second destination in the region in terms of the volume of remittances received from Spain, in line with its status as the second most common foreign nationality among residents in Spain. Thus, Ecuador receives 15% of remittances to Latin America, exceeding €900 million in 2023. The Dominican Republic has positioned itself as the third destination (11% of remittances) and the main one within Central American and Caribbean countries, with a payment volume close to €702 million, and Honduras, which received remittances from Spain worth around €520 million in 2023. Payments to both countries have shown significant growth in recent years. In particular, remittances to Honduras have more than tripled, in real terms, in the last decade, while in Peru they have experienced annual growth close to 20% in 2022 and 2023.