Countries by Secondary income receipts (BoP, current US$)

Ranking 2024

Analysis

Secondary income receipts measure inbound transfers in the balance of payments where an economy receives goods, services, income, or financial items without a quid pro quo. Per the source definition: 'Secondary income refers to transfers recorded in the balance of payments whenever an economy provides or receives goods, services, income, or financial items without a quid pro quo. All transfers not considered to be capital are current. This indicator is expressed in current prices, meaning no adjustment has been made to account for price changes over time.' Values are in current US dollars, with no inflation adjustment applied. This ranking covers 189 countries. Data recency is strong: 182 of 189 countries (96.3%) have data from the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official-quality. The latest reference year (2024) has data for 149 of 189 countries (78.8%). The viability checks identified 34 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, and the average year-over-year change across the dataset is 19.2%.

The top of the ranking is dominated by large advanced economies and major remittance-receiving nations. The United States ranks 1st at $187.9 billion. India ranks 2nd at $133.0 billion and Germany 3rd at $128.0 billion. Switzerland ranks 4th at $70.7 billion, notably high relative to its population. Mexico ranks 5th at $65.7 billion, and France ranks 6th at $59.6 billion. Pakistan (10th, $37.4 billion), Philippines (11th, $32.9 billion), and Bangladesh (15th, $27.9 billion) all rank in the top 15, reflecting large overseas worker populations sending remittances home. Egypt ranks 13th at $30.1 billion and Guatemala ranks 20th at $22.8 billion, both consistent with sizeable inbound transfer flows.

The middle of the ranking shows notable variation. Ukraine ranks 19th at $24.4 billion despite ongoing conflict conditions visible in the data year. Serbia ranks 52nd at $7.3 billion and Bosnia and Herzegovina ranks 76th at $3.4 billion, both relatively high for their economic size. The Cayman Islands appears at rank 63 with $5.0 billion, a striking value for a jurisdiction of its size. Luxembourg ranks 26th at $15.9 billion, well above neighboring countries of comparable population. At the lower end, Angola ranks 186th at just $22.4 million, Congo (Rep.) ranks 188th at $17.1 million, and Kuwait ranks last at $7.8 million despite being a high-income oil economy.

Several data limitations apply to this metric. Current price values are not adjusted for inflation, making direct comparisons across years imprecise. The 2024 data year has full coverage for only 78.8% of countries (149 of 189), meaning some values may be estimates or extrapolations. The 34 extreme outliers flagged at the 3-sigma threshold suggest that certain country values may reflect structural reporting differences rather than true economic magnitude. Secondary income covers a broad range of transfer types, and country-level reporting practices for components such as personal remittances, government transfers, and institutional transfers may vary. The metric captures receipts only, not net flows, so it does not reflect what a country simultaneously pays out in secondary income.

Methodology

Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code BX.TRF.CURR.CD, data year 2024. The metric is defined as follows: 'Secondary income refers to transfers recorded in the balance of payments whenever an economy provides or receives goods, services, income, or financial items without a quid pro quo. All transfers not considered to be capital are current. This indicator is expressed in current prices, meaning no adjustment has been made to account for price changes over time.' Values are absolute receipts in current US dollars; higher values indicate greater inbound secondary income. The ranking covers 189 countries. Of these, 182 (96.3%) have data from the last seven years. All 189 datapoints (100%) are classified as official-quality, exceeding the 70% threshold. The 2024 reference year has data for 149 of 189 countries (78.8%). Viability checks identified 34 extreme outliers using a 3-sigma threshold, and average year-over-year change is 19.2%, within the 50% volatility threshold. The value range spans from $7,806,195 (Kuwait, rank 189) to $187,902,000,000 (United States, rank 1), a spread of approximately 2,406,988%.

Sources

• World Bank