Remittances from the EU down for the first time in 2009, flows to non-EU countries more resilient

Eurostat has recently started to collect and disseminate data related to the flows of household income generated by the permanent or temporary movement of people to other countries. This paper highlights the main characteristics of the newly disseminated data set, which includes data on workers` remittances and compensation of employees. Outflows of compensation of employees reached €41.6 billion in 2009, while outflows of workers` remittances reached €29.6 billion - making a total of €71.2 billion. However, this figure represents a fall of 4% compared to 2008 and the first decline after a long period of continuous growth.