How much does it cost to send $200 abroad?

The World Bank recorded a global average total cost of 6.36 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, which is $12.72 on a $200 transfer. The figure covers the sending fee and the margin taken on the exchange rate together.

Why are banks so much more expensive than money transfer operators?

The World Bank does not explain the gap, only measures it. Banks averaged 14.99 per cent on a $200 transfer in Q3 2025 against 4.72 per cent for money transfer operators. On $200 that is $29.98 against $9.44.

Is the advertised fee the whole cost?

No. The World Bank counts three things as cost: the fee charged to send, the margin taken on the exchange rate when the money is paid out in another currency, and sometimes a fee charged to the person receiving it. A transfer advertised as zero fee can still carry a margin.

Where is it most expensive to send money?

Sub-Saharan Africa, at an average 8.46 per cent in Q3 2025. The cheapest region was the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan, at 5.11 per cent.

Sending $200 home costs $12.72 on average. Through a bank it is $29.98.

The World Bank prices 367 remittance corridors every quarter. The spread between the cheapest way to send money and the most expensive is more than three to one, and almost all of it is decided by which counter you walk up to.

The World Bank keeps a price list for sending money across borders. It covers 367 country corridors, 48 countries people send from and 105 they send to, and it is published every quarter.

In the third quarter of 2025 the global average cost of sending $200 was 6.36 per cent — $12.72 on the transfer. That is the average. The number you personally pay depends almost entirely on where you queue up.

The counter you walk up to decides the price

Average total cost of sending $200, by type of provider

World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide, Q3 2025. Cost is expressed as a percentage of the amount sent.

Banks14.99%
Post offices5.58%
Mobile operators5.58%
Money transfer operators4.72%

A bank charges $29.98 to move $200. A money transfer operator charges $9.44. Same money, same destination, more than three times the price.

The World Bank does not explain that gap. It measures it, quarter after quarter, and it has been the widest line in the data for years.

The advertised fee is not the cost

This is the part that catches people. The World Bank counts three separate things as the cost of a transfer: the fee charged to send, the margin taken on the exchange rate when the money is paid out in a different currency, and sometimes a further fee charged to the person collecting it.

The exchange-rate margin is the invisible one. A service can advertise no fee at all and still take its cut in the rate it gives you. That is why the World Bank prices the whole transaction rather than the sticker.

If you want to see the rate before the margin is applied, our currency converter uses the mid-market rate — the same reference number the fee is measured against.

How you send matters as much as who you send with

Average total cost on $200, by how the transfer is made

World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide, Q3 2025.

4.39%

originated with a credit or debit card — the cheapest instrument in the quarter, $8.78 on $200

4.59%

digital services overall, $9.18 on $200

7.30%

non-digital services, $14.60 on $200 — a $5.42 difference for the same transfer

Non-digital costs more than digital in every region the World Bank measures, without exception.

Where it costs most

Sub-Saharan Africa is the most expensive region to send money to, at an average 8.46 per cent — $16.92 on a $200 transfer. The cheapest is the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan at 5.11 per cent, followed by South Asia at 5.30 per cent.

Average total cost of sending $200, by receiving region

World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide, Q3 2025.

Sub-Saharan Africa8.46%
Europe and Central Asia6.8%
East Asia and Pacific5.83%
Latin America and Caribbean5.64%
South Asia5.3%
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan5.11%

The pattern is consistent: the regions where remittances make up the largest share of household income are not the ones getting the best price.

The target, and the distance to it

The United Nations set a figure for this. Sustainable Development Goal target 10.c commits governments to, in its exact words, "by 2030, reduce to less than 3 per cent the transaction costs of migrant remittances and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 per cent."

The global average is 6.36 per cent. Every regional average in the table above is higher than 3 per cent. Four of the six are above 5.

There has been real movement, though, and it is worth stating plainly: the share of corridors with average costs under 5 per cent has gone from 17 per cent in early 2009 to 83 per cent in Q3 2025.

Checking your own corridor

The World Bank publishes the underlying data by corridor at remittanceprices.worldbank.org, and it is free. Look up the country you send from and the country you send to, and you get the providers ranked by total cost rather than by advertised fee.

Two things to do with that:

Compare total cost, not the fee. A zero-fee transfer with a 4 per cent margin costs more than a $3 fee at the mid-market rate.
Work out what you actually paid. Divide the amount that arrived by the amount you sent, then compare that rate with the mid-market rate on the day. The difference is the margin.