In addition to asking adults of Asian descent whether they have ever donated to charity, we ask them to send money, or personal remittances, to people living in the Asian countries where they, their families, and their ancestors came from. I also asked if they had ever sent one.
About a quarter of Asian adults living in the United States said they had sent money in the previous year in the survey conducted from July 2022 to January 2023. Among those who sent money, the most common reason was to help with regular expenses. Food, clothing, and medical expenses.
Who are the Asian Americans sending money?
Overall, 27% of Asian adults living in the United States said they had sent money to someone in the Asian country where they or their ancestors were from in the 12 months prior to the survey.
By birthplace
Among the six largest Asian groups in the United States, Filipino (42%), Indian (36%), and Vietnamese (33%) adults say they have sent money to someone in their ancestral homeland. most likely to answer. Chinese (10%) and Japanese (3%) adults are the least likely to say this.
by the nativity
Asian immigrants are more than twice as likely as U.S.-born Asian adults to report having sent remittances in the 12 months prior to the survey (32% vs. 13%).
Among immigrants, recent arrivals are slightly more likely to say they have sent remittances than long-time residents.
Thirty-seven percent of Asian immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for less than 20 years said they have sent remittances in the past year. 28% of Asian immigrants who have lived in the United States for more than 20 years say the same.
Among U.S.-born Asian Americans, third-generation Asian Americans and above are the least likely to say they have sent money to someone in the Asian American’s country of origin. Only 4% of second-generation Asian adults said they had such experience, compared to 15% of second-generation Asian adults.
By connecting with our ancestral homeland
Among Asian adults with immediate family living in their ancestral homeland, 38% said they had sent remittances in the past year. A much smaller proportion (13%) of those without family members say the same.
The survey also asked Asian adults whether they would move to (and in some cases return to) places in Asia where they or their ancestors came from. Your remittance pattern will depend on the answer to this question.
Among Asian adults who said they would consider moving to their country of origin in Asia, 37% said they had sent remittances in the year prior to the survey. Of those who would not consider moving, 23% said the same. By educational background and income
There are no significant differences by education or income in whether Asian Americans send money back to their countries of origin. Across these groups, fewer than about 3 in 10 people said they had done so in the year prior to the survey.
For example, 30% of people with a high school diploma or less and 26% of people with a graduate degree say they have sent money. Similarly, similar proportions of people with household incomes below $30,000 and those with household incomes above $150,000 responded (20% and 26%, respectively).
By religion
Among major religious groups, religiously unaffiliated Asian adults are the least likely to say they have sent money to someone living in their Asian country of origin.
Similarly, remittances are associated with the importance of religion in Asian American lives.
39% of Asian adults who say religion is very important in their lives have sent money in the 12 months prior to being asked. Fifteen percent of Asian adults who say religion is not very important or not important at all have done the same.
Why do Asian Americans send money?
Among Asian adults who have sent money to someone in their Asian ancestral homeland in the year prior to the survey, the most common reasons were for regular expenses such as food and clothing (63%) and for medical expenses (63%). 50%).
Among Asian adults who sent remittances, a smaller percentage said they did so for weddings and funerals (35%), but not for large-ticket purchases such as appliances or home improvements (19%). or savings or investments (16%). Less than one in 10 said the funds were used to import goods or services into the United States (7%) or to conduct business outside the United States (6%). Additionally, nearly one-third (36%) of Asian adults said they sent money for other reasons not specified in the survey. (In this survey, respondents were not asked why.)
Among Asian adults who sent remittances, there are demographic differences in the reasons for remittance.
By birthplace
Korean adults are less likely than Filipino, Indian, and Vietnamese adults to say they have sent remittances for daily living expenses, medical expenses, and large purchases. Among those who said they had sent money in the previous year were:
28% of Korean adults say they send money for regular expenses, compared to 72% of Filipino adults, 61% of Indian adults, and 61% of Vietnamese adults. 21% of Korean adults sent money for medical expenses, compared to 55% of Filipino adults, 56% of Indian adults, and 42% of Vietnamese adults. 4% of Korean adults sent money for big-ticket purchases, compared to 28% of Filipino adults, 18% of Indian adults, and 14% of Vietnamese adults. by family ties
Adults of Asian descent with immediate family members living in their Asian country of origin were more likely to say they sent money for a major purchase than those without family members (22% vs. 11%).
by education
Asian Americans with less than college experience were more likely to say they sent money for a wedding or funeral than those with a bachelor’s degree or higher (42% vs. 29%).
Flow of remittances from the United States to countries of origin in Asia
The United States is the world’s largest remittance country, in part because it has the largest immigrant population of any country. In 2021, Asian American countries of origin collectively received approximately $63 billion in remittances from the United States Asian countries, the largest recipients of remittances from the United States, are the most common countries of origin for Asian Americans. South Korea and Japan are roughly in line with India, the Philippines, China, and Vietnam. These six countries received approximately $55 billion from the United States in 2021.
India, the Philippines, and China were also among the top five countries in the world to receive remittances from the United States in 2021. That year, countries received more than $10 billion in remittances from the United States. Although Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan received only a small amount of remittances from the United States, remittances from the United States accounted for more than 40% of the total remittances received by these countries in 2021.
Overall, remittances typically do not account for a large proportion of the total gross domestic product of these Asian countries of origin. The exception is the Philippines, where nearly a tenth (9.3%) of the country’s economy came from migrant remittances in 2021, with 3.3% coming from remittances exclusively through the United States.
Many countries of Asian origin, such as the Philippines and India, have developed programs to recognize their diaspora living abroad and their potential contributions to the country, including through remittances.
