Social remittance refers to the ideas, values, behaviors, and social capital that migrants carry from their host countries back to their home communities — through visits, communication, and cultural exchange. Unlike financial remittances, social remittances are non-monetary transfers that can reshape norms around gender roles, democracy, entrepreneurship, and civic participation in origin communities.
Social remittances move through multiple channels: return visits, phone and video calls, social media, and the migration of people themselves. A nurse who trained in the UK and returns to the Philippines brings clinical practices and patient-care norms that did not exist locally. A construction worker who spent five years in Germany returns to Mexico with ideas about workplace safety and labor rights. These transfers accelerate when diaspora communities stay digitally connected — the same mobile apps that enable $200 monthly transfers also enable daily video calls that carry values and information.
Financial remittances are the $860 billion in cash sent globally each year — measurable, trackable, and the focus of platforms like RemitRoutes. Social remittances are harder to quantify but arguably longer-lasting. Financial remittances can create dependency if they substitute for local income; social remittances tend to build human capital and institutional change. The two often travel together: a migrant sending money home is also sending messages, norms, and expectations about how that money should be spent, saved, or invested.
Research from the World Bank and academic studies documents consistent patterns: diaspora communities transfer democratic norms, gender equality expectations, entrepreneurial behavior, and health practices. In sub-Saharan Africa, returned migrants have been linked to increased electoral participation and reduced tolerance for corruption. In South Asia, diaspora-connected households show higher rates of girls' secondary education enrollment. In Latin America, returning migrants introduce small business practices absorbed abroad. These changes compound over generations in ways that financial transfers alone cannot produce.
Before smartphones, social remittances traveled slowly — mainly through return visits and letters. Today, a Filipino domestic worker in Dubai maintains a daily WhatsApp group with her family in Cebu, sharing news, parenting approaches, and financial decisions in real time. The same infrastructure that cut international transfer fees from 7% to under 1% has also compressed the time it takes for diaspora ideas to reach home communities. Platforms built for financial remittances are now, incidentally, the primary conduit for social remittances too.
Financial remittances are money transfers sent by migrants to their home countries — measurable in dollars and tracked by central banks. Social remittances are the non-monetary transfers: ideas, values, behaviors, and norms that migrants carry home through communication and visits. Both types of transfer happen simultaneously and reinforce each other.
The concept was developed by sociologist Peggy Levitt in her 1998 paper 'Social Remittances: Migration Driven Local-Level Forms of Cultural Diffusion,' based on fieldwork between Boston and the Dominican Republic. Her framework identified four types of social remittances: norms, practices, identities, and social capital.
Yes. Social remittances can transfer values or behaviors that create tension or harm in home communities. Conspicuous consumption norms, unrealistic expectations about living standards, or the erosion of traditional community structures are documented negative effects. Researchers note that social remittances reflect the full range of host-country culture — not just the positive elements.
The same mobile platforms used for sending money internationally — WhatsApp, mobile banking apps, video calls — are the primary channels through which social remittances now travel. Lower-cost financial transfers mean migrants stay more connected to home financially and socially. A $5 transfer app doubles as a daily communication channel, accelerating the transmission of ideas alongside money.
Research suggests social remittances contribute to poverty reduction indirectly by building human capital, changing household investment decisions, and improving institutional quality over time. They are generally seen as complementary to financial remittances rather than a substitute — communities that receive both financial and social remittances show stronger long-term development outcomes than those that receive only money.
High-volume, long-established migration corridors tend to have the strongest social remittance flows: Mexico–USA, Philippines–Middle East/USA, India–Gulf states/UK, and Sub-Saharan Africa–Europe. These corridors have large, settled diaspora communities with deep ongoing ties to home — and are also the corridors where financial remittance platforms like RemitRoutes can save senders the most money.
Compare live rates across 370+ corridors on RemitRoutes · methodology. Last updated 2026-02-21.