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Metadata Glossary

CodeBX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS
Indicator NamePersonal remittances, received (% of GDP)
Short definitionPersonal remittances comprise personal transfers and compensation of employees. Personal transfers consist of all current transfers in cash or in kind made or received by resident households to or from nonresident households. Personal transfers thus include all current transfers between resident and nonresident individuals. Compensation of employees refers to the income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in an economy where they are not resident and of residents employed by nonresident entities. Data are the sum of two items defined in the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual: personal transfers and compensation of employees.
Long definitionPersonal remittances comprise personal transfers and compensation of employees. Personal transfers consist of all current transfers in cash or in kind made or received by resident households to or from nonresident households. Personal transfers thus include all current transfers between resident and nonresident individuals. Compensation of employees refers to the income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in an economy where they are not resident and of residents employed by nonresident entities. Data are the sum of two items defined in the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual: personal transfers and compensation of employees.
SourceStaff estimates, World Bank (WB); IMF balance of payments data, International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Bank GDP estimates, World Bank (WB); OECD GDP estimates, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
TopicEconomic Policy & Debt: Balance of payments: Current account: Transfers
DatasetWB_WDI
PeriodicityAnnual
Reference period1970-2025
Aggregation methodWeighted average
Statistical concept and methodologyMethodology: The Balance of Payments (BOP) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) serves as the primary source of information for personal transfers, which are categorized under secondary income, and for the compensation of employees, classified as primary income of the current account. Depending on data availability, references may be made to quarterly or annual figures. Information from government agencies such as central banks and national statistical offices further complements the BOP data. When countries have missing data for certain years, this is addressed using methods like Last Observation Carried Forward (LOCF) and Next Observation Carried Backward (NOCB). If disaggregated data is unavailable, estimates are created based on historical ratios and trends. The data is presented as a percentage of "GDP (current US$)" (NY.GDP.MKTP.CD), which is sourced from the World Bank's national accounts data and the OECD National Accounts data files.
Other notesNote: Data starting from 2005 are based on the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6).
License URLhttps://datacatalog.worldbank.org/public-licenses#cc-by
License TypeCC BY-4.0
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