Remittances Sent To Latin America Recover From Recession

By Kate Sheehy
November 15, 2013

The United States is the largest source of remittances to Latin America. The recession greatly slowed money being sent to home countries by migrants.

But the Pew Hispanic Trends Project has found that rates in most Latin American countries have bounced back, except in Mexico.

Mexico still receives the biggest share of money from immigrants in the U.S., but the country is 29 percent below its peak in 2006. Pew research shows some reasons for this drop are the large number of Mexican workers hurt by the U.S. recession as well as increased deportations and fewer arrivals.

Meanwhile more people from Central American countries like El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have helped to boost up remittances overall. The Pew study finds the amount of money being sent to these countries is estimated to be higher in 2013 than their pre-recession peak.

Salvadorans are the fourth-largest group of Latino immigrants in the U.S., and the economy in that country relies more on money from the north than anywhere else in Latin America.