Remittances are transfers of money by foreign workers to their home countries. The World Bank estimates that migrants officially sent home more than $167 billion to their families in developing countries in 2005 – a figure more than twice the level of international aid. Remittances are playing an increasing larger role in the economies of many nations. In Latin America and the Caribbean remittances play an important role in the economy of the region. In the region, remittances have overtaken the combined sum of Foreign Direct Investment and official development aid in terms of dollar value. Remittances also account for more than 10% of GDP in six Latin American and Caribbean countries and exceed the dollar flows of the largest export in almost every country in the region.