Available in English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, this report examines the role of the data revolution in aiding national and regional development, with a special focus on the role of national statistical offices in developing countries at providing the ‘right data’ to the ‘right people’ in the ‘right format.’ National Statistical Systems (NSS) are crucial to generating the data needed to promote development and reduce poverty and to monitor international development goals.
The paper briefly discusses issues related to estimations of aggregate volumes of remittances, bilateral remittances and remittance transfer costs. The authors argue that methodologies commonly used introduce a number of biases or suffer from limitations that confirm how problematic it is to generate accurate "evidence" on remittances.