A study by the University of Zurich looked at how European migrants in Switzerland send money back home. They found that people from Portugal tend to send smaller amounts more often, while those from the U.K. send bigger amounts but less frequently.
Switzerland is a big source of money sent by migrants to their home countries. These money transfers, called remittances, help families or friends and can be used for things like buying property. Usually, we think of remittances as important for people from poorer countries, but not so much for European immigrants.
European migration
To date, there hasn’t been a great deal of research focused on European migration. This study aimed to fill that void and looked at how people in Switzerland send money to other European countries.
The researchers asked around 3,000 people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, the U.K., Italy, Portugal, and Serbia about how they send money. They picked these countries to get a mix of different distances from Switzerland, economic development, and qualifications of the migrants.
The research revealed that migrants within Europe frequently send money back to their home countries. On average, about 21% of those surveyed do this at least once a year. Specifically, immigrants from the U.K. (29%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (30%), Serbia (40%), and Portugal (46%) regularly send money home annually. However, this frequency falls below the average for individuals from Germany (15%) and Italy (13%), which might be due to many in these groups being second-generation immigrants.
“In general, second-generation migrants are less likely to make remittances. This has to do with the lower number and strength of their social ties to their parents’ home country,” the researchers explain.
National differences
The average yearly amounts sent also varied significantly based on nationality. People from the U.K. send around CHF 4,000 on average, followed by Portugal with CHF 2,200 and Germany with CHF 1,100. However, those sending money to Italy (CHF 650), Serbia (CHF 460), or Bosnia and Herzegovina (CHF 324) show notably lower averages.
There are also notable differences in the purpose of remittances. Immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, and Serbia primarily support family or friends with their remittances, while Portuguese immigrants tend to transfer money into their personal bank accounts. The behaviors of German and U.K. respondents show a mix of these patterns.
The study emphasizes that remittance payments link closely with successful integration into the job market and, consequently, higher migrant wages. However, purely economic factors can’t wholly explain the differences among countries. For instance, it raises the question: why do people from Portugal make frequent payments while Germans do not?
“These money payments depend equally on people’s ties to their home country and their moral standards. People who have family or own property in their countries of origin and who have a strong moral obligation to support their family are more likely to transfer money,” the researchers conclude. “However, this has little to with their integration into Switzerland.”
