Ms.CuriousCat
All Star
Analysis of cash flows by Hong Kong-based Ghanaian academic Adams Bodomo shows that Africans living outside the continent send more money home to their families than is sent by traditional Western aid donors in what is called Official Development Assistance (ODA).
In 2010 - the most recent year for which meaningful comparisons can be made, according to Mr Bodomo - the African diaspora remitted $51.8bn (£34bn) to the continent.
In the same year, according to World Bank figures, ODA to Africa was $43bn (£28bn).
"I started the research to see if I could support a hunch I had that money remitted by African families was more efficient aid than ODA money," the Ghanaian professor told the BBC.
"I found it was clearly more efficient and better targeted but to my surprise I found it was also a much bigger sum."
'Family aid'
Mr Bodomo concentrated on African money-flows but came to a similar conclusion for all developing countries:
"Worldwide remittances from people who hail from developing countries totalled $350bn," he said; "far exceeding ODA at $130bn."
Statistics can be misleading. The definition of Western ODA does not include all external aid.
Saudi-financed mosques built for social and religious reasons are not included, for example.
Nor are semi-commercial deals like Chinese road-building projects in exchange for minerals concessions.
But ODA does represent most of what most people usually think of as "foreign aid".
Even if other outside aid were included, Mr Bodomo thinks money sent by relatives would still far exceed it because much of the "family aid" is sent through informal channels.
"In the case of Africa, about 75% of remittances are sent informally - we can't track that," he said.
Read more: BBC News - Africans' remittances outweigh Western aid
In 2010 - the most recent year for which meaningful comparisons can be made, according to Mr Bodomo - the African diaspora remitted $51.8bn (£34bn) to the continent.
In the same year, according to World Bank figures, ODA to Africa was $43bn (£28bn).
"I started the research to see if I could support a hunch I had that money remitted by African families was more efficient aid than ODA money," the Ghanaian professor told the BBC.
"I found it was clearly more efficient and better targeted but to my surprise I found it was also a much bigger sum."
'Family aid'
Mr Bodomo concentrated on African money-flows but came to a similar conclusion for all developing countries:
"Worldwide remittances from people who hail from developing countries totalled $350bn," he said; "far exceeding ODA at $130bn."
Statistics can be misleading. The definition of Western ODA does not include all external aid.
Saudi-financed mosques built for social and religious reasons are not included, for example.
Nor are semi-commercial deals like Chinese road-building projects in exchange for minerals concessions.
But ODA does represent most of what most people usually think of as "foreign aid".
Even if other outside aid were included, Mr Bodomo thinks money sent by relatives would still far exceed it because much of the "family aid" is sent through informal channels.
"In the case of Africa, about 75% of remittances are sent informally - we can't track that," he said.
Read more: BBC News - Africans' remittances outweigh Western aid