Remittances Spike for Mother’s Day as Remitly Customers Send Gifts Abroad

Mother’s Day in the U.S. marks a day to appreciate mothers and the care, love, and support they provide to their families and children.

At Remitly, we see spikes in sending the days before and after Mother’s Day weekend, as immigrants send their mothers an extra gift for the holiday. In fact, in recent years, we’ve seen an approximate 20% spike in transaction volume on the Friday before Mother’s Day in the U.S.

Top 5 cities sending Mother’s Day gifts

Last year, we saw that customers in five cities drove that surge in remittances, including:

  1. Houston
  2. Los Angeles
  3. Miami
  4. The Bronx, NYC
  5. Chicago

The role of immigrant mothers

It’s also an important time to recognize mothers for their commitment to their families—especially immigrant mothers. For some women, leaving their children in their home countries to pursue work abroad is the best way to support their families. It takes a toll.

In a 2018 survey of more than 1,800 migrant customers who moved from India, Mexico, and the Philippines, Remitly found that 40% of women who responded said that they had left a child behind to work abroad in order to build a better life for their family. Half of them (47%) hadn’t seen their child for more than a year, and a third (28%) hadn’t seen them for three years. Read more about their stories here.