In 2023, the international remittance inflow from migrants totalled $2.7 billion, which is 20.5% of the GDP. The fact that migrant workers provide Kyrgyzstan with money has long been no secret, but how much does each Kyrgyzstani send home on average, and in which country is this figure higher? The ‘Akchabar’ editorial board has done a little research.

According to the National Bank's statistics for the first eight months of 2024, Kyrgyzstanis sent home 70.3% of last year's total amount - $1.9bn.

Such a large inflow of money suggests that working abroad is worth all the possible risks. Many of our compatriots think so too, going to work to improve the family's well-being.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, about 600,000 Kyrgyz citizens live abroad, and the bulk of them - 334,000 people - stay in Russia. Kazakhstan has received 65,000 of our citizens, followed by Turkey and the United States, where 40,000 people from Kyrgyzstan live each. South Korea also attracts our compatriots, whose number there reaches 16,000.

Taking into account the total amount of remittances received in the country during the incomplete year and knowing the total number of our labour migrants, it turns out that during this time each of them sent home an average of $3,275.6, or $409.45 each month.

Besides information on the total inflow of remittances, the National Bank provides a breakdown of money inflows by the main sending countries, such as Kazakhstan, Russia, the United States, Turkey and South Korea. With this data, it is quite possible to roughly imagine how much a Kyrgyzstani sends while working in one or another corner of the world.

It turns out that migrants living in Russia, on average, send home $684.1 per month. In second place are Kyrgyz from South Korea, who send $353.9, followed by the United States - $134.38, Turkey - $36.8 and Kazakhstan - $3.8. Of course, individually someone can send more, someone less, we are just talking about the average.

Let us add that the situation regarding money transfers may change shortly. This is because, since the end of this summer, Kyrgyz banks have suspended the acceptance of instant transfers by phone number from Russian financial institutions.