The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released its new overseas migration data for the 2024-25 financial year — and for the millions of migrants in Australia sending money home, the numbers tell a story about how Australia’s communities are shifting and which remittance corridors are growing.
What the ABS data shows
Net overseas migration was 306,000 in 2024-25, down from 429,000 a year earlier — a 29% fall driven by a decrease in migrant arrivals and an increase in departures.
Total migrant arrivals fell 14% to 568,000, from 661,000 the year before. Almost two in three arrivals were on temporary visas — 363,000 — and nearly half of those were international students at 157,000.
The top five countries of birth contributing to net overseas migration in 2024-25 were China, Australia, India, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
This marks a shift from 2023-24, when India and the Philippines were the top two countries of birth for migrant arrivals. Net overseas migration from India and China was lower than in 2023-24, but migration from the United Kingdom and New Zealand was higher.
What this means for Australia’s remittance corridors
Australia’s remittance flows are directly shaped by its migrant communities. As those communities grow, shrink or shift, so do the volumes sent back to each country.
India remains Australia’s largest migrant source community and largest remittance corridor. US$4.8 billion in remittances flowed from Australia to India in 2024 — the single largest corridor. While Indian-born migrant arrivals have moderated from their 2023 peak, the existing community base is large enough to sustain strong remittance volumes.
China is the second largest remittance corridor from Australia, with approximately US$3.5 billion sent from Australia to China in 2024.
Vietnam and the Philippines remain major corridors. Wire transfer data shows large remittance flows from Australia’s Vietnamese community (US$1.52 billion) and Filipino community (US$1.18 billion) — both significantly larger than Australian aid allocations to those countries.
Nepal is a rapidly growing corridor. Nepal receives 33 times more through private remittances from Australia (US$574.5 million) than Australian aid (AU$27.2 million) — a striking illustration of how migrant communities now far outpace government aid in financial flows to certain countries.
The Pacific corridors — Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu — while smaller in absolute dollar terms, represent an outsised share of GDP in receiving countries. Vanuatu receives 66% of its total remittance inflows from Australia — making Australia the overwhelmingly dominant source of foreign income for the island nation.
Migration is moderating — but the community is still growing
The fall in net overseas migration in 2024-25 reflects a normalisation after several years of post-pandemic catch-up, not a reversal of long-term trends.
Australia’s net overseas migration reached a peak of 556,000 people in the year ending September 2023 — a record high driven by the backlog of visa approvals and arrivals delayed by COVID-19. The 306,000 figure for 2024-25 is a return toward the pre-pandemic average of around 200,000–240,000 per year, not a sign of declining interest in Australia as a destination.
Critically, the existing migrant population in Australia — the community that drives remittance flows — continues to grow. Each cohort of migrants who arrived during the 2022-2024 peak is now settled, employed, and sending money home.
Remittances are countercyclical — they grow when families need them most
One of the most consistent findings in global remittance research is that remittance flows are countercyclical — they tend to increase when conditions in the home country worsen, and decrease less sharply than other financial flows during economic downturns.
When a family member back home faces a medical emergency, a natural disaster, or an economic shock, the phone call to their relative in Australia comes quickly. For many families across India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Nepal and the Pacific, money sent from Australia is not a supplement to household income — it is the household income.
That is the reality behind every number in the ABS migration data. It is also why OrbitRemit exists.
Send money home from Australia
OrbitRemit supports fast, affordable transfers from Australia to 52+ countries — with flat fees shown upfront and no hidden charges. Whether your family is in India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Nepal, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu or any of the other corridors shaped by Australia’s migrant communities, OrbitRemit is built for the people who keep those connections alive.
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Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics — Overseas Migration, 2024-25 financial year | moneytransfer.com.au — Australia’s Remittance Flows: Surprising Winners and Losers (2024 World Bank data) | OrbitRemit is regulated by ASIC (AFSL: 470646) and AUSTRAC-registered in Australia.
