Brussels, 12/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - According to data published by Eurostat on Monday 12 December, within the EU27, money sent by migrants to their countries of origin, usually referred to as workers' remittances, registered a constant increase until 2008, mainly due to money transferred to the rest of the world. This trend was interrupted in 2009 by the financial crisis. The total outflow of funds from the EU27 was €31.2 billion in 2010, compared to 30.4 billion in 2009, an increase of 3%. Compared to 2009, the increase in workers' remittances was higher in 2010 for intra-EU27 flows (+6%) than for extra-EU27flows (+1%). The share of extra-EU27 remittances in the total stood at 72% in 2010, the same level as in 2009.
The outflow of workers' remittances was highest in 2010 in Spain (€7.2 billion, or 23% of the total EU27 remittances), Italy (€6.6 billion or 21%), Germany (€3.0 billion, or 10%), France (€2.9 billion or 9%), the Netherlands (€1.5 billion or 5%) and Greece (€1.1 billion or 3%). (LC/transl.fl)