Remittances continue to serve as a vital source of support for the Lebanese economy and Lebanese families as they amount approximately $6 to $7 billion per year. Despite the COVID crisis and the global recession in the past years, remittances kept flowing from expats in support of their families, making Lebanon the third-highest recipient of remittances in terms of value in the MENA region, preceded only by Morocco and Egypt.
So where’s that money coming from?
Lebanese diaspora is spread all over the world but according to the latest UNDP report, 48% originate from the GCC (Gulf countries), followed by North American (16%), Western Europe (14%), Africa (14%), Australia (3%), Latin
America (3%), and lastly Eastern Europe (2%).
The same report lists the number of Lebanese emigrants by country, with 353,886 Lebanese in Arab Countries, 200,595 emigrants in North America, 186,057 in Europe and 140,000 in other countries. It is worth noting more than 100,000 people emigrated out of Lebanon in the past three years alone, which is a staggering number.
You can read the full report [here].
