Last year Ukrainians working abroad wired home the equivalent of 8 percent of the country’s GDP
Ukrainians working abroad sent home $8.4 billion last year, equivalent to 8 percent of the country’s GDP, according to a study released Oct. 17 by the International Fund for Agricultural Development. By contrast, Ukraine has attracted around $24 billion in foreign direct investments in its 16 years of independence.
Of all CIS countries, Ukraine was second only to Russia, whose migrant workers wired nearly $14 billion back to their home country last year. Ukraine ranked sixth in the world, ahead of Bangladesh ($8.1 billion) and Turkey ($7.4 billion). India, Mexico and China led the list with more than $20 billion each in migrant funds. Worldwide, 150 million migrants sent more than $300 billion to their families last year, the study found.
Various estimates have put the number of Ukrainians working outside their homeland as low as 3 million and as high as 7 million migrant workers.
