Overwhelming Generosity Among Migrant Communities
- WorldRemit polled migrants for International Friendship Day
- Findings show that 51% send money to friends out of pure generosity, with 55% sending more than £1,000 every year
- When asked what reminded them the most of home nearly half (47%) said people over material things
- Over 60% have five or more friends that live in different countries around the world
- 93% said they communicate with friends on Facebook the most, followed by Skype (73%), telephone calls (72%) and instant messaging apps (70%)
- Respondents are primarily sending money (86%) followed by airtime (44%), clothes (43%) and photographs (40%) to friends overseas
This International Friendship Day, online money transfer service WorldRemit, polled migrants to find out what friendship looks like when living on different sides of the world. The majority (51%) of those surveyed said they send money to friends overseas out of pure generosity, with 55% sending more than £1,000 every year.
Maintaining friendships internationally is a phenomenon of the last decade; people are more connected globally than ever before and are able to maintain strong links with friends abroad. Over 60% of the migrants polled said that they have five or more friends that live in different countries spread across the world. When asked how respondents communicate with friends, a huge 93% said they communicate with friends on Facebook the most, followed by Skype (73%), telephone calls (72%) and instant messaging apps (70%).
Many friends keep in touch by sending gifts, clothes, photos, keepsakes and money to each other. The majority of respondents are sending money (86%) followed by airtime (44%) and photographs (40%) to their friends overseas.
Maintaining international friendships is integral to migrants, and when asked what reminded them the most of home nearly half (47%) said people over material things. Music, smells and dance feature less highly, showing that human connections are treasured much more closely.
“People are incredibly generous. Even when there’s no specific reason for them to send money to friends, they are doing so because they see that as part of their friendship. That’s something that people in the West are less used to, but it is an important part of the culture for many of the countries and nationalities that WorldRemit serves.
” said Iain Mackenzie, WorldRemit’s Head of Communications.
The results also paint a picture of international friendship here in the UK, with just under half (45%) of all respondents stating that they are friends with five or more people from different nationalities. Migrants clearly value the cultural diversity of their friends, developing mutual understandings despite having dissimilar backgrounds.
