Remittances Adjusted Support Ratio

We introduce a new demographic indicator, the remittances-adjusted support ratio(RASR), which incorporates the support offered through remittances into the existingsupport ratio (SR). Remittances have increased rapidly in recent decades due to im-proved technology, and they play a crucial role in the countries that send migrantsabroad. This is important as many countries are still undergoing their demographictransitions, and here remittances are particularly relevant. Our formulation of theRASR suggests an alternative in which population pressures are alleviated throughmigration, but where migrants send remittances and thus provide support withoutbeing present in their home countries. We show that the RASR has diverged substan-tially from the SR in a range of countries during the last three decades. The RASR,therefore, offers new insight into economic and demographic support and constitutesa useful tool for policymakers and researchers in the 21st century.