The World Bank in its 'Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011' report says that worldwide inflows are expected to reach $440 billion by the year end, with remittances to developing nations are likely to reach a record $325 billion from the 2009 figure of $307 billion.
The top remitting countries in 2009 were United States ($48.3 billion), Saudi Arabia ($26 billion), and Switzerland ($19.6 billion).
Remittances remained a resilient of external financing during the recent global financial crisis and were steady despite the pangs of financial reconstruction in the developed world, the report said.
As high-income countries remain the main source of remittance flows, migration to the developed economies grouping saw an increase.
India ranks second in the top three emigration countries with 11.4 million of its population chose overseas destinations. Mexico tops the chart with 11.9 million figure and Russia getting third position having 11.1 million people working in other countries.
India-UAE is among the top 10 migration corridors with 2.2 million migrants. Mexico-US is expected to be the largest migration corridor in the world, followed by Russia-Ukraine, Ukraine-Russia and Bangladesh-India.
World Bank said majority of expatriates in the Gulf hail from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Philippines, Bangladesh, Yemen, Iran and Sudan.
According to the Factbook 2011, the top migrant destination country remains the United States that kept 42.8 million immigrants, followed by Russia (12.3 million), Germany (10.8 million, Saudi Arabia (7.3 million), Canada (7.2 million), United Kingdom (7.0 million), Spain (6.9 million), France (6.7 million), Australia (5.5 million), India (5.4 million), Ukraine (5.3 million), Italy (4.5 million) and Pakistan (4.2 million).
The top immigration countries relative to population are Qatar - 87 per cent, Monaco - 72 per cent, UAE - 70 per cent, Kuwait - 69 per cent and Andorra - 64 per cent.
