Survey of the data sources and compilation practices of EU Member States Item 4.1

11-12 June 2009

Survey of the data sources and compilation practices of EU Member StatesItem 4.1

International Technical Meeting on Measuring Remittances

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Eurostat survey on data sources

Issues related to remittances are regularly discussed by the Eurostat BOP Working Group.

In April 2009, a questionnaire was sent to all participants of the Working Group.

Several questions concerning data sources, compilation practices and future plans for measuring remittances and compensation of employees were asked.

26 Member States and 5 other European countries replied.

A report summarising the responses is not yet available.

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Responding countries

EU Member States:Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Kingdom

Other European Countries:Switzerland, Norway, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro

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Questions

Question 1:What data sources is your country using for compiling data on remittances? Please give a detailed description of the data sources and of the methods used for estimating remittances?

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Data sources (1)

No data on remittances: Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia (since 2008).

ITRS (banks report for MTOs): Montenegro (no threshold) Bulgaria (threshold)

ITRS + direct reporting from MTOs: Portugal (most banks report transactions below threshold) Luxembourg (information from banks below threshold)

ITRS based: Sweden (basis for estimation ITRS from 2002) Malta (bank tapes available on a monthly basis) Belgium (updated by voluntary reports by postal system)

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Data sources (2)

ITRS + other information Greece (MTOs included, travel frontier survey to Albania). Serbia (MTOs included, net inflow of foreign exchange, new

foreign currency savings covering informal channel) Romania (MTOs and Post Offices, government agencies, mirror

data) Cyprus (direct reporting by MTOs, migration data, wages paid to

foreign employees) Bosnia and Herzegovina (direct reporting by MTOs, for informal

channel - panel survey, judgements by IMF) Germany (no of foreigners, assumption on average remittances)

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Data sources (3)

Direct reports from MTOs Italy Lithuania (direct reporting from Post offices, specialised

commercial banks) Spain (outflows: MTOs account for 80%, remaining 20%

econometric model, ITRS for geo allocation; inflows: ITRS + estimation below threshold).

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Data sources (4)

Migration statistics Switzerland (no of immigrants, income, propensity) Czech Republic (based on labour force survey, average wage,

saving rates) Finland (stock of migrants, employment rate, propensity) Netherlands (no of immigrants with country of origin, GDP

growth) Ireland (12 new MS: household survey, wage, propensity to

remit; other countries: no of work permit) Estonia (assumptions – 50%of emigrants are employed, 50% of

them remit 15% of heir income) Poland (migration + specialised survey in UK and IE)

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Data sources (5)

Income tax records Austria (outflows: country specific remittance rate + estimation

for illegal immigrants; inflows: stock living abroad + assumptions on income and remittance rate)

Hungary (savings = remittances)

Estimations United Kingdom (based on historic, counterpart's and IMF data) Denmark (based on a study, remittance levels in neighbouring

countries, price index) Norway (benchmark estimate of 2004, growth in households'

primary income)

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Questions

Question 7:Do you have any future plans for improving the collection of data on remittances? If yes, please describe them.

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Future plans (1)

No plans Denmark, Hungary, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Greece,

Montenegro, Switzerland

Household surveys Italy (improved coverage of informal channel) Cyprus (extend existing survey) Slovenia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Belgium, Portugal, Sweden Poland (specialised survey in NL and DE)

Mirror exercise Austria, Ireland, Spain

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Future plans (2)

Migration statistics Estonia (Eurostat data, household survey not successful) Slovakia (estimations based on migration data) Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Portugal (econometric model) Bulgaria (demographic model) Romania (Eurostat labour force survey) More direct reporters Norway (new register of banks, MTOs, post offices) Portugal Serbia (more commercial banks)

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Future plans (3)

Other sources Czech Republic (verify assumptions) Sweden (ongoing project to use data from MTOs, banks) Netherlands (MTOs for countries of destination and origin,

population statistics for countries of origin, GDP for grossing up)

Germany (4 steps method recommended by Luxembourg Group)

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Thank you for your attention