Remittances make up more than 5% of the national GDP of several larger African countries, including Morocco, Ghana, Egypt and Nigeria.

The funds workers send back to their families are especially significant for the small countries of Lesotho and The Gambia, which both have populations of below 3-million people.

In Lesotho, remittances made up nearly a quarter of the national GDP last year. However, this contribution has been decreasing in recent years due to the country’s growing diamond export industry.

In The Gambia, which has an agriculture-based economy, remittances accounted for nearly 27% of the GDP last year.

Governments have begun to take the contributions made by diaspora populations to their country’s economies seriously.

The central banks of Kenya, Uganda and The Gambia, for example, are improving data collection and reporting on remittance channels. Other countries are creating policy reforms to encourage sending money back home.