HA NOI (VNS) — Viet Nam ranked ninth on the World Bank's list of the 10 countries that attracted the most overseas remittances, with US$10 billion in 2012.

India topped the list with $69 billion, according to the latest edition of the World Bank's Migration and Development Brief, issued on Friday.

Other countries on the list were China ($60 billion), the Philippines ($24 billion) and Mexico ($23 billion).

Smaller developing countries, such as Tajikistan, Liberia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Lesotho and Moldova, received the most as a share of GDP.

According to the WB, officially recorded remittances to developing countries grew by 5.3 per cent to reach an estimated $401 billion in 2012. Remittances to developing countries are expected to grow by an annual average of 8.8 per cent for the next three years and are forecast to reach $515 billion in 2015.

Since 2000, the overseas remittance flow to developing countries has increased more than four times.

Global remittances, including those to high-income countries, are estimated to have reached $514 billion in 2012, compared to $132 billion in 2000, the WB said.

Given that many migrants send money and goods through people or informal channels, the true amount of remittances is much larger than these official figures.

The global average cost for sending remittances was nine per cent in the first quarter of 2013, generally unchanged from 2012, the report added. — VNS