When Marisol in Los Angeles wires $400 to her mother in Guadalajara, she isn't just covering rent. She's contributing to an economic lifeline. Global remittances to low- and middle-income countries reached nearly $700 billion in 2024 and kept climbing through 2025, according to United Nations analysis¹. Behind that figure are millions of stories like Marisol's.


The three corridors that Xoom customers rely on most, India, Mexico, and the Philippines, sit at the heart of this story. Did you know, India ranks as the world's largest single recipient of remittances? Mexico is the second largest, with the U.S. corridor alone accounting for tens of billions of dollars each year². The Philippines, despite a population a fraction of the other two, consistently lands in the global top five, underscored by its large overseas workforce in healthcare, maritime, and domestic services.


What makes these flows so economically resilient? Unlike trade or investment, remittances don't dry up during downturns. Workers abroad often send more when conditions at home worsen. This is a dynamic economists call the 'insurance effect.' For recipient families, that reliability means the difference between school enrollment and dropout, between a hospital visit and going without.


With Xoom, powered by PayPal, those commitments travel fast, straight to bank accounts, mobile wallets, or cash pickup locations that families trust. Understanding the why behind the wire is the first step to sending smart.

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Footnotes


¹ United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2025, November 5). World Economic Situation and Prospects: November 2025 Briefing, No. 196. United Nations. https://policy.desa.un.org/publications/world-economic-situation-and-prospects-november-2025-briefing-no-196


² BBVA Research. (2026, February 5). Mexico: 11 consecutive years of remittance growth end, falling 4.6% in 2025. BBVA Research. https://www.bbvaresearch.com/en/publicaciones/mexico-11-consecutive-years-of-remittance-growth-end-falling-46-in-2025/