Economy · Remittance inflows · South Africa
South Africa’s remittance inflows rose to $1bn in 2025.
$1bn
2025
Up $0.15bn from 2024.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
$1bn
What it is. Remittances received add up the money and goods that people working abroad send to relatives at home, together with some pay earned by residents from foreign employers. The figure is in current US dollars, so it moves with the rand exchange rate and with price changes as well as with the amounts sent. Transfers recorded through banks and formal money operators are the ones counted most fully, so cash carried across borders or sent informally is largely missing.
Higher is better. More money arriving from abroad adds to household income and brings foreign currency into the economy, which is why a higher figure is better. The latest figure, for 2025, is 1 billion, up from 0.86 billion a year earlier. That is a rise of 0.15 billion, or 17.5%. Since 2016 the lowest figure was 0.76 billion, in 2016, and the highest is the current 1 billion, so 2025 sits at the top of its range for the period.
Why it matters. Households with relatives working abroad use these transfers for everyday costs such as food, rent and school fees, so a year of growth means more regular support reaching them. For the country, the inflow adds a modest stream of foreign currency. At 1 billion US dollars, 2025 is the strongest year since 2016, and the next annual figure will show whether the rise continues.
| Period | Remittance inflows · South Africa |
|---|---|
| 2016 | $0.76bn |
| 2017 | $0.87bn |
| 2018 | $0.93bn |
| 2019 | $0.89bn |
| 2020 | $0.81bn |
| 2021 | $0.93bn |
| 2022 | $0.87bn |
| 2023 | $0.8bn |
| 2024 | $0.86bn |
| 2025 | $1bn |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
How to read this number
- Source
- Who published the figure
- Published
- When they released it
- Verified
- When we last checked it against the source
Every change is logged in Corrections. How the figure is made: Methodology.
Cite this number
Show text
Strata-AF™ Data, Remittance inflows, South Africa, 2025; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/remittance-inflows/south-africa
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
What this means
Working this out from the published figures…
Strata AI commentary is coming — reviewed, dated, and generated only from the figures on this page.
Methodology
Personal remittances received, current US dollars. Unit: USD bn.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series BX.TRF.PWKR.CD.DT), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.