Money sent home by Bangladeshis working abroad is one of the largest flows into the economy. Personal remittances were equivalent to 7.4% of GDP in 2025, according to World Bank data compiled from IMF balance of payments figures.
10.6% → 4.6% → 7.4%
Remittances as a share of GDP in 2012, 2017 and 2025.
The share rose from 3.7% in 2000 to a peak of 10.6% in 2012, then drifted down for five years to 4.6% in 2017. It stayed near 5% through 2023 (5.1%), before climbing to 6.1% in 2024 and 7.4% in 2025.
The ratio compares remittances with the size of the economy, so it can move because either number changes. The data alone do not say which factors drove each phase, and they do not separate remittances sent through formal channels from other flows.
For policy, the figures show how much household income, and the foreign currency the country needs to pay for imports, depends on migrant workers’ earnings. Protecting those earnings — through lower recruitment and transfer costs, worker protections abroad and reliable formal channels — is therefore also an economic-stability question.
Source: World Bank staff estimates, IMF balance of payments data and national accounts, via World Bank WDI (BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS).