New research from the digital money transfer service WorldRemit shows hundreds of thousands of Pakistani children are in school, have access to books and educational supplies, and are more likely to study and less likely to work due to international remittances.

Pakistan is one of the top 10 remittance recipients worldwide, and received $21 billion in remittances in 2018.

These findings were calculated using data from UNESCO, the World Bank, and Pakistan's latest national household survey. Approximately 220 million children in low and middle-income countries are not in school around the world. Of these, 19 million live in Pakistan, one of the highest numbers of out-of-school of children in the world.

Hamza Islam, Country Director, Pakistan, at WorldRemit said: "As millions of children in Pakistan go back to school this term, our research is a timely reminder that the contributions of the diasporas are vital to the education of 450,000 children across the country.

Switching to digital remittances would help maximise that even further."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019