Personal transfers: €52.1 bn sent outside EU in 2024

In 2024, flows of money sent by EU resident households to non-EU resident households, referred to as personal transfers, amounted to €52.1 billion, an increase of 6% compared with 2023 (€49.2 billion). Inflows of personal transfers to EU resident households totalled €14.8 billion, up by 7% compared with 2023 (€13.8 billion).

In the last 5 years, a substantial growth in outflows of personal transfers has been observed. Outflows have surged by 51%, while inflows have grown more modestly, increasing by 26%. As a result, there has been a widening negative balance for the EU vis-à-vis non-EU countries, reaching €37.3 billion in 2024.

This information comes from data published by Eurostat today. This article presents a selection of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on personal transfers and compensation of employees.

Source dataset: bop_rem6

Impact of net personal transfers on the EU economies

In 2024, personal transfers were in surplus for 9 EU countries as their inflows from the rest of the world exceeded their outflows. Among those countries, 3 reported a surplus representing more than 1% of their respective gross domestic product (GDP): Croatia (2.6% of GDP), Bulgaria (1.3%) and Portugal (1.2%).

Source datasets: bop_rem6 and nama_10_gdp

In contrast, Malta (-2.8%), Cyprus (-0.9%), Belgium (-0.6%), Greece, Spain and France (each -0.5%) exhibited the largest deficits of personal transfers as a share of their respective GDP.