Indians among top three Asian groups sending money home: Pew

India among top six recipients of remittances from Asian Americans, together receiving about $55 billion from the US

Filipino, Indian and Vietnamese adults in the US are the three top Asian groups who have contributed to charities in their ancestral homelands or have sent money there through remittances, according to a new Pew Research Center report.

Among the six largest Asian origin groups in the US, Filipino (42%), Indian (36%) and Vietnamese (33%) adults are the most likely to say they have sent money to anyone living in their ancestral homeland, it says. Chinese (10%) and Japanese (3%) adults are the least likely to say this.

READ: As remittances to India touch $100 billion, diaspora puts its money where its mouth is (December 29, 2022)

The report based on a multilingual, nationally representative survey of 7,006 Asian adults, conducted July 5, 2022, through Jan 27, 2023 explores the financial and philanthropic ties Asian Americans have both to the US and their ancestral homelands, according to a media release.

In 2021, Asian Americans’ places of origin collectively received about $63 billion in remittances from the US. Among the biggest recipients were the six most common origin countries for Asian Americans – India, the Philippines, China, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan – which received about $55 billion of these remittances, according to the Pew Center’s analysis of World Bank data.

Among Asian adults who have sent remittances, the most common reasons for doing so are to help with ordinary expenses (63%) and health expenses (50%). Reasons vary somewhat across Asian origin groups, education, and family ties to one’s ancestral homeland.

RELATED: Indian diaspora sent record $89.4 billion in remittances to India (December 19, 2022)

The US is by far the world’s largest remittance-sending nation, in part because it also has the largest immigrant population of any country. In 2021, Asian Americans’ places of origin collectively received about $63 billion in remittances from the US.

The Asian countries that are the largest receivers of US remittances broadly coincide with the most common origin countries for Asian Americans – India, the Philippines, China, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan. These six countries received about $55 billion from the US in 2021.

India, the Philippines and China were also among the five largest receivers of US remittances globally in 2021. Each country received over $10 billion in remittances from the US that year.

Vietnam, Korea and Japan received less in remittances from the US, but remittances from the US made up a larger share of total remittances received by each of these countries in 2021 (over 40%).

READ: Indians in the US sent $10.65 billion to India in 2016: report (January 29, 2018)

Overall, remittances generally do not make up significant shares of these Asian origin countries’overall gross domestic product. The exception is the Philippines, where nearly one-tenth (9.3%) of the country’s economy came from migrant remittances in 2021, and 3.3% came from remittances sent through the U.S. alone.

Many Asian origin countries, such as the Philippines and India, have developed programs to recognize their diasporas living abroad and their potential contributions to the country, including through remittances, according to the report.

Among the survey’s other key findings:

Overall, 64% of Asian Americans have given to a charitable organization in the United States over the past 12 months, according to the report.

And 27% of Asian adults living in the US have sent remittances to someone living in their Asian ancestral homeland.

Asian Americans are the only major racial or ethnic group in the United States that is majority immigrant. Many Asian Americans either grew up or spent considerable time in their Asian country of origin, and many have immediate family members who still live there.

About 20% of Asian adults in the US have given to a charity located in their Asian country of origin in the last year.

READ: India tops global remittances with a whopping $70 billion in 2013 (April 14, 2014)

Regardless of whether Asian adults are immigrants or born in the US, most have given to a US charity. More than 60% of each group say they have done so.

However, immigrants are more likely than US-born Asian adults to say they have given to a charity in their Asian country of origin (23% vs. 11%).

Notably, Asian American adults overall are about three times more likely to say they have volunteered or made a donation through a charity in the US than one in their Asian origin country in the 12 months before the survey (64% vs. 20%).

Whether Asian Americans have given to charitable organizations is associated with how important religion is in their life. Asian adults who say religion is very important in their life are more likely than those who say it is not too or not at all important to have given to a charity in either of the places asked about.