Jamaica's personal remittances, received (% of GDP) was 16.29% in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is up 0.51 percentage points from 15.78% in 2015.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 16.29% | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 20.45% | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | 15.78% | 2015 |
| Highest | 23.22% | 2021 |
| Lowest | 2.33% | 1983 |
| Average since 2016 | 17.44% | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | 2.98% | 1976 |
What the numbers say
In 2025, Jamaica's personal remittances, received (% of GDP) rose 0.1 percentage points on 2024 (from 16.19% to 16.29%).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.22 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.59 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 5.4 percentage points in 2020 and the biggest yearly fall was 3.62 percentage points in 2022. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2016 to 2025 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 4% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
In 2025, Jamaica had the 12th highest value of the 130 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Jamaica | 16.29% | 2025 |
| World | 0.81% | 2025 |
| Latin America & Caribbean | 2.45% | 2025 |
| Upper middle income | 0.97% | 2025 |
Closest to Jamaica in the 2025 ranking
- Guatemala — 8th of 130: 20.82%
- Lesotho — 9th of 130: 20.79%
- Kosovo — 10th of 130: 17.31%
- Uzbekistan — 12th of 130: 14.35%
- Cabo Verde — 13th of 130: 11.67%
- Egypt, Arab Rep. — 14th of 130: 11.37%
What this measures
Personal remittances comprise personal transfers and compensation of employees. Personal transfers consist of all current transfers in cash or in kind made or received by resident households to or from nonresident households. Personal transfers thus include all current transfers between resident and nonresident individuals. Compensation of employees refers to the income of border, seasonal, and other short-term workers who are employed in an economy where they are not resident and of residents employed by nonresident entities. Data are the sum of two items defined in the sixth edition of the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual: personal transfers and compensation of employees.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 50 values
| Year | Personal remittances, received (% of GDP) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 16.29 |
| 2024 | 16.19 |
| 2023 | 16.81 |
| 2022 | 19.6 |
| 2021 | 23.22 |
| 2020 | 20.45 |
| 2019 | 15.05 |
| 2018 | 14.84 |
| 2017 | 15.6 |
| 2016 | 16.33 |
| 2015 |
Personal remittances, received (% of GDP) in nearby economies
More economic policy & debt data for Jamaica
- Total reserves, including gold (current US$) — US$6.3 billion (2025)
- Total reserves, excluding gold (current US$) — US$6.3 billion (2025)
- Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices (current US$) — US$19.27 billion (2025)
- Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices (current LCU) — 3.07 trillion (2025)
- GDP (current US$) — US$22.7 billion (2025)
- GDP (current LCU) — 3.61 trillion (2025)
- GDP per capita (current US$) — US$8,003 (2025)
- GDP per capita (current LCU) — 1.27 million (2025)
- GNI (current US$) — US$22.36 billion (2025)
- GNI (current LCU) — 3.56 trillion (2025)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Jamaica's personal remittances, received (% of GDP)?
- 16.29% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1976?
- It is up 13.31 percentage points from 2.98% in 1976. The highest value was 23.22% in 2021 and the lowest 2.33% in 1983.
- How does Jamaica rank?
- 12th highest of 130 economies with data for 2025.
- Is the latest change in personal remittances, received (% of GDP) unusual for Jamaica?
- In 2025, Jamaica's personal remittances, received (% of GDP) rose 0.1 percentage points on 2024 (from 16.19% to 16.29%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.22 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.59 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Staff estimates, World Bank (WB); IMF balance of payments data, International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Bank GDP estimates, World Bank (WB); OECD GDP estimates, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.
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