U.S. households sent at least $11.7 billion abroad through remittances during a 12-month period between 2007 and 2008, and typical amounts sent ranged between $500 and $1,000, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a report released Nov. 8.
They also received an estimated $5.6 billion, resulting in a net estimated amount of $6.1 billion sent abroad, the bureau says.
The bureau gathered data for the report through supplemental questions it asked approximately 55,000 household representatives about their overseas remittance activities Aug. 17 to 26, 2008, as part of its monthly Current Population Survey. Administered through telephone and in-person interviews, the bureau says it geared the survey to analyze U.S. migration patterns and characteristics of the nation’s foreign-born population.
Because the survey encompassed all households, not just those of immigrants, it represents “a first step toward providing data for an area of research where little previously existed,” the bureau said.
Some 5% of survey respondents reported sending remittances, or funds transfers, to relatives and friends outside the U.S. during the preceding 12 months. Some 27% of foreign-born households surveyed reported sending funds abroad, compared with 1% of native-born households that did so, the survey results suggest. Among households that reported transferring funds abroad, 84% were foreign-born.
Approximately 1% of all households reported receiving funds transfers from friends and relatives living outside the U.S. during the 12-month period covered. Of those, 68% were foreign-born.
Fifty-four percent of households sending funds abroad did so between one and four times during the 12-month period the survey covered, and about 30% sent funds 10 or more times. On average, households sent funds transfers six to seven times during the year.
Most households sending funds abroad typically sent less than $1,000 per remittance, the survey data show. Some 53% sent less than $1,000, while 34% sent less than $500 per remittance.
There is “some indication” of misreporting of the amount of funds sent and received because of some respondents’ hesitation to provide data, the researchers noted. As with other personal-income data, misreporting usually means underreporting, so the average and total amount of funds transferred “may be underestimated,” they said.
