In 2019, flows of money sent by residents of the European Union (EU) to non-EU countries, referred to as personal transfers, amounted to €33.2 billion, compared with €30.8 bn in 2018. Inflows to the EU totaled €13.0 bn in 2019, compared with €12.4 bn in 2018. This resulted in a negative balance (-€20.2 bn) for the EU with the rest of the world. The majority of personal transfers consist of flows of money sent by migrants to their country of origin.
The news release, issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, presents annual data on personal transfers collected within the framework of Balance of Payments statistics.
Among member states for which data are published, the outflows of personal transfers in 2019 were highest from France (€11.9 bn), followed by Spain (€8.5 bn), Italy (€6.7 bn), Germany (€5.4 bn), and Belgium (€1.4 bn). In contrast, the highest inflows were recorded in Romania (€3.7 bn), ahead of Portugal (€3.6 bn), Poland (€3.0 bn), Italy (€2.0 bn), and Croatia (€1.9 bn).
As a result, the largest surpluses in personal transfers were registered in 2019 in Romania (+€3.4 bn), Portugal (+€3.2 bn), and Poland (+€2.5 bn), while France (-€11.0 bn) recorded by far the largest deficit, followed by Germany (-€5.4 bn), Italy (-€4.7 bn) and Ireland (-€1.3 bn).
In 2019, the highest shares of intra-EU inflows among total inflows of personal transfers were recorded in Slovakia (94%), Luxembourg (80%), Hungary (76%), and Sweden (70%).
On the contrary, extra-EU inflows accounted for about three-quarters of total inflows in France (77%), Lithuania (73%) and Cyprus (70%), and for two-thirds in Belgium and Italy (both 66%).
Luxembourg (70%), Slovakia (63%), Malta (62%), Czech Republic, and Finland (both 61%) were the member states that recorded the highest proportion of intra-EU outflows in total outflows. For extra-EU outflows, the largest shares were observed in Spain (93%), Poland (87%), Belgium (86%), Italy, and Lithuania (both 85%), Portugal (84%), and Greece (83%).
Extra-EU personal transfers were mostly directed to Asia and North Africa (both 20% of total extra-EU outflows), followed by non-EU European countries (19%), South America (16%) and Central and South Africa (12%).
