(09 December 2016) – In 2015, flows of money sent by residents of the European Union (EU) to a non-EU country, referred to as personal transfers, amounted to €31.3 billion, compared with €29.9 bn in 2014. The majority of personal transfers consist of flows of money sent by migrants to their country of origin.
The outflows of personal transfers in 2015 were highest from France (€10.0 bn), followed by the United Kingdom (€7.7 bn), Italy (€6.4 bn) and Spain (€6.2 bn). In contrast, the highest inflows were recorded in Portugal (€3.3 bn) and Poland (€3.2 bn), ahead of the United Kingdom (€2.7 bn), Romania and Italy (both around €2.2 bn).
As a result, the largest surpluses in personal transfers were registered in 2015 in Poland (+€3.0 bn), Portugal (+€2.8 bn) and Romania (+€1.7 bn), while France (-€9.5 bn) recorded by far the largest deficit, followed by the United Kingdom (-€5.0 bn), Italy (-€4.2 bn) and Germany (-€3.5 bn).
Slovakia (93%), Luxembourg (92%) and Ireland (79%) were the Member States that recorded the highest proportion of intra-EU outflows in total outflows.