Migration Wave Fuels $38 Billion Remittance Surge From Australia—India, China Tops List

Australia’s remittance outflows reached a record high in 2024 amid a migration boom.

New analysis from the remittance comparison website Money Transfer Australia (MTA) has revealed that Australia sent around $38.2 billion (US$25 billion) overseas last year.

This was up from $10 billion in 2022 and the recent peak of $11.4 billion in 2019, according to data (pdf) from the World Bank.

India and China alone accounted for nearly one-third of Australia’s total remittances, receiving approximately $7.3 billion and $5.35 billion, respectively.

While India topped Australia’s remittance chart, the amount of money it received from the country only made up 3.8 percent of its overall inflows.

Other large recipients of Australian remittances were Vietnam (over $2.33 billion), the Philippines ($1.81 billion), and the UK ($1.53 billion).

In terms of remittance per capita, the Israeli migrant community sent the highest amount, averaging $36,000 per person.

The MTA noted that this likely reflects Israeli investments in Australia and wealth transfers, rather than traditional remittances intended to support family members.

The French community was also a top sender, with each person remitting an average of $24,500 to their home country.

Meanwhile, communities with a high concentration of refugees, such as Syria and Afghanistan, had a very low remittance per capita.

“The contrast is stark: Israeli migrants send, on average, more than 300 times as much per person as Afghan migrants,” the report said.

Australia’s Migration Boom

MTA’s report comes as Australia is experiencing a migration boom.

According to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, net migration stood at 446,000 as of June 2024, down from the peak of 555,810 in September 2023.

While there has been a drop in net migration, the current figure is still much higher than the pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels of around 250,000.

Temporary visa holders were the main driver behind migrant arrivals in 2023-24.

Of the 667,000 migrants arriving in Australia in 2023-24, 207,000 were international students, followed by other temporary visa holders such as visitors (90,000), working holiday makers (80,000), and temporary skilled migrants (49,000).

High net migration has resulted in substantial growth in most migrant communities over the past decade.

Between 2014 and 2024, India surpassed China to become the second-largest country of birth among Australian residents, with its population rising from 411,240 to 916,330—just behind the UK (963,560).

China ranked third at 700,120, followed by New Zealand (617,960), the Philippines (394,380) and Vietnam (318,760).

MTA Editor-in-Chief Russell Gous said there was a link between the surge in Australia’s remittances and the growing migrant population.

“Overall, we can see that the greater the migrant population in Australia, the greater the remittance outflows,” he told The Epoch Times.

“Migration creates international networks of support, which manifest as remittance flows.

“Whether they are students, doctors, or business owners, cultural and family ties from an increasing migrant population have been sufficient to create large and steady remittance flows from Australia to a number of countries around the world.”

Despite the recent drop in net migration, Gous predicted that Australia’s remittance outflow will continue to increase in the near future.

“While migration to Australia has slowed over the last 12-24 months, we are still seeing significant net migration, and we expect remittances to continue growing,” he said.

“We’ve seen remittance outflows from Australia take a dip on a handful of occasions in the 21st century, but the overall trajectory is firmly upward.”

Impacts of Australia’s Remittances

The report found that many Pacific region countries are highly reliant on Australia’s remittances.

For example, 66 percent of Vanuatu’s total remittance inflows came from Australia, followed by Malta (50 percent), Tuvalu (49 percent), the Solomon Islands (45 percent), and Fiji (35 percent).

On the other hand, the Latin American and Central Asian communities, whose financial ties predominantly focus on the United States, only reported a small amount of remittances.

In addition, migrants from several low-income countries sent home amounts that far exceed the average local earnings, indicating a pattern of high economic dependence on Australia’s remittances.

On average, Nigerian migrants in Australia sent home more than 6.8 times the country’s GDP per capita.

A similar situation was observed in Pakistani migrants (4.7 times) and Kenyan migrants (3.5 times).

“This likely reflects family obligations and financial necessity, though it may also include some transfers linked to fraudulent activity,” the report said.