An international remittance is a transfer of money from a person in one country to a person in another, most often sent by a migrant worker to relatives at home to pay for food, rent, school fees or health care. The word "international" simply separates it from domestic transfers between regions of the same country, such as city workers sending money to a home village. The full explanation of how these flows work, how they are measured and why they matter is in the entry on Remittances.
International remittances are among the largest financial flows to developing countries: the World Bank estimated officially recorded remittances to low- and middle-income countries at about USD 656 billion in 2023, more than foreign direct investment to the same countries. They are sent through banks, card-based apps and specialist firms known as remittance service providers, and each route between two countries is priced and licensed as its own payment corridor. Most senders are migrant workers, so costs and fees fall hardest on households with modest incomes.