Two published figures answer different questions and are not the same measurement. The Bank of Mexico recorded remittance receipts of US$61,791 million in 2025, down 4.6 per cent from US$64,746 million in 2024, counting the transfers its own reporting system captures. The World Bank puts personal remittances received by Mexico at 3.70 per cent of gross domestic product in 2024, a balance-of-payments measure with a wider definition and a denominator. The first describes the size of a payments industry, the second how much of an economy rests on inflows of that kind, and for Mexico they give very different impressions.
There are two ways to say how much a remittance flow is worth, and for Mexico they give almost opposite impressions. One of the largest flows in the world in dollars is, measured against the economy receiving it, an ordinary one.
Key Takeaways
- The Bank of Mexico recorded remittance receipts of US$61,791 million in 2025, down 4.6 per cent on the year.
- The World Bank puts the same flow at 3.70 per cent of gross domestic product in 2024.
- The two are different measurements, not one flow divided two ways: a national reporting series and a balance-of-payments aggregate with a denominator.
- The Bank of Mexico publishes quarterly detail by receiving state and municipality, which a national share cannot show.
- Mexico is a sender as well as a receiver, at US$1,183 million in 2025.
Why the two measures disagree
Because they measure different things and only one of them has a denominator.
It is worth being precise about this before comparing them, because they are often quoted as though one were the other. The Bank of Mexico's series counts remittance income as its own reporting system captures it, transfer by transfer. The World Bank's series is a balance-of-payments aggregate for personal remittances received, compiled to an international standard with a wider definition of what counts. They describe closely related flows and they are not the same measurement, so the gap between the two impressions is partly definitional and not only arithmetic.
An absolute figure counts the money as the counting body defines it. It tells you how large the corridor is as a business: how many transfers, how much value, how much infrastructure is needed to carry it. That is the right number for anyone asking what the payments market looks like.
A share of gross domestic product divides an equivalent aggregate by the size of the economy receiving it. It tells you what happens to that economy if the flow stops. That is the right number for anyone asking about macroeconomic exposure, and it is the measure that turns a payments statistic into a description of a country.
Mexico sits at one end of the resulting gap. The Bank of Mexico's own figures put receipts at US$61,791 million across 2025, against US$64,746 million in 2024. The World Bank's series puts personal remittances received by Mexico at 3.70 per cent of gross domestic product in 2024, in a range that has run from 2.91 per cent in 2018 to a peak of 4.19 per cent in 2022.
| Year | Personal remittances received, per cent of Mexican GDP |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 2.91 |
| 2019 | 3.05 |
| 2020 | 3.92 |
| 2021 | 4.18 |
| 2022 | 4.19 |
| 2023 | 3.69 |
| 2024 | 3.70 |
Both descriptions are true at once, on their own definitions. The corridor is very large by value, and the receiving economy is large enough that the equivalent aggregate is a few per cent of it. Where a flow is large enough to be a macroeconomic variable in its own right, the arithmetic looks completely different, and that case is covered in when remittances are the economy.
What the two measures are actually used for
Different jobs, and mixing them up is how a corridor gets described wrongly.
The absolute figure is an operational number. It sizes the market: how much value has to be carried, how many payout points are needed, how much a percentage point of fee is worth. Anybody building or regulating a transfer business is working from it, and a country with a very large flow has a correspondingly large industry attached to it whatever the state of the wider economy.
The share is a macroeconomic number. It answers what happens to national income if the flow falls, which is a question about vulnerability rather than about scale. On the World Bank series Mexico's share moved by more than a percentage point between 2019 and 2021, which is a real change and a modest one.
The Bank of Mexico's own publication practice reflects the split. It reports the monthly totals that size the market, and it also publishes quarterly detail by receiving state and municipality, and, for money arriving from the United States, by state of origin. A national share of gross domestic product cannot show any of that, because a national aggregate has no geography in it.
So the two numbers are not competing answers to one question. They are answers to two, and a corridor described only by the first looks larger than it is to the receiving economy, while one described only by the second looks smaller than it is as a business.
Mexico is also a sender
No, and the outward flow is reported alongside the inward one.
The Bank publishes egresos, remittances sent by residents of Mexico to other countries, and puts them at US$1,183 million across 2025, down 9.6 per cent from US$1,308 million in 2024. Netting the two gives a remittance account surplus of US$60,608 million, against US$63,438 million the year before.
The outward number is small next to the inward one, and that is exactly why it is worth reporting: a country that is overwhelmingly a receiver still has its own corridors running the other way. A statistic that only counted arrivals would describe Mexico as a destination rather than as a participant.
The 2025 fall, and how to read it
Receipts fell, and the reporting is careful about how to read that.
The annual fall was 4.6 per cent in nominal terms. The Bank also publishes seasonally adjusted series, and in December 2025 those showed receipts contracting 1.6 per cent on the month while outward payments rose 2.6 per cent, even though the unadjusted annual comparison for that same month was a rise of 1.9 per cent.
That is a useful demonstration of why a monthly headline is a poor guide. The same month is a rise on one basis and a fall on another, because one comparison strips out the seasonal pattern and the other does not. The Bank publishes both, quarterly detail by receiving state and municipality, and, for money from the United States, by state of origin.
What this means for the pair
That the peso has a very large, very steady dollar inflow behind it that is nonetheless a modest share of the economy it enters.
For anyone converting from Australia the useful point is about where to look rather than what to expect. A flow of this kind originates in another country's labour market, so the figures that describe it are published by the receiving country while the conditions that move it are not. Anyone reading the Australian dollar to Mexican peso pair against Mexican data alone is reading one side of it.
Where to look next
understanding transfer fees covers what a transfer costs to send, and how international transfers work covers the mechanics behind the electronic share above. For the live figures, see the AUD to MXN page.
Sources
Banco de Mexico, Informacion de Ingresos y Egresos por Remesas, diciembre de 2025, published 3 February 2026 - receipts of US$61,791 million in 2025 against US$64,746 million in 2024 and the 4.6 per cent fall, outward remittances of US$1,183 million against US$1,308 million and the 9.6 per cent fall, the remittance account surplus of US$60,608 million against US$63,438 million, the December 2025 monthly figures on both adjusted and unadjusted bases, and the quarterly detail published by receiving state and municipality and by state of origin
World Bank, Personal remittances received as a percentage of GDP, Mexico, indicator BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS - the annual series from 2.91 per cent in 2018 to 3.70 per cent in 2024, including the 4.19 per cent peak in 2022
Banco de Mexico, remittance statistics directory - the quarterly series the monthly bulletin points to, disaggregated by receiving state and municipality, by country of origin, and for money from the United States by state of origin, together with outward remittances by country of destination
General information about remittance statistics and how they are measured. Not financial advice, and not a recommendation of any product or institution. Reviewed by the Tradergy editorial team, September 2026.
Common questions
How much is sent to Mexico in remittances?
The Bank of Mexico recorded receipts of US$61,791 million across 2025, against US$64,746 million in 2024, a fall of 4.6 per cent. Mexico also sends money outward: remittance payments by residents of Mexico to other countries came to US$1,183 million in 2025, so the surplus on the remittance account was US$60,608 million.
Why does a share of GDP give a different picture?
Because it measures dependence rather than size, and because it is a different series. World Bank figures put personal remittances received by Mexico at 3.70 per cent of gross domestic product in 2024, having run between 2.91 and 4.19 per cent since 2018. It is a balance-of-payments aggregate with a wider definition than the Bank of Mexico's own reporting series, so the two are not the same number divided by a denominator. Neither is more correct; they answer different questions.
Does Mexico send remittances as well as receive them?
Yes, and the Bank of Mexico reports both sides. Remittances sent by residents of Mexico to other countries came to US$1,183 million in 2025, against US$1,308 million in 2024, a fall of 9.6 per cent. Netting the two gives a remittance account surplus of US$60,608 million for 2025, against US$63,438 million the year before.
How reliable is a single month's figure?
Not very, and the Bank publishes enough to show why. December 2025 was a rise of 1.9 per cent on the same month a year earlier on unadjusted figures, and a fall of 1.6 per cent on the month on seasonally adjusted ones. The same month reads as a rise on one basis and a fall on the other, because one comparison strips out the seasonal pattern and the other does not.
What was the 2025 fall?
A 4.6 per cent nominal decline in receipts, from US$64,746 million to US$61,791 million. The outward flow fell faster, by 9.6 per cent, and the surplus on the remittance account fell 4.5 per cent to US$60,608 million. The Bank reports these figures monthly and both seasonally adjusted and unadjusted, so the direction of a single month is a poor guide to the year.