Importance:— Remittances sent to Pakistan are increasingly playing a prominent role in the development of its economy, who's GINI coefficient has hovered around the 0.34-0.39 mark for several decades since the 1971 Pakistani Civil War.[1] According to the Asian Development Bank, in 1973, a total of $136 million in remittances was sent to the country[2] (with the low figure largely explained by unskilled emigration to countries such as the UK). Slightly less than a decade later this had increased to $2,116 million[2] (with skilled professionals now playing a more prominant role). In 1991 this fell to $1,848 million,[2] but by 2002 this had recovered to around $2,389 million.[2] In 2012 the figure almost sextupled to $13,920 million, and in 2013 this had increased to $14,900 million.[3] Middle-income countries received $410,000 million in remittances in 2013; a growth of 36% since 2000.[4] India sent $71,000 million,[3] with a diaspora of of 25 million based on figures from 2013,[5] and China $60,000 million[3], with the diaspora amounting to 50 million (however, the global Chinese diaspora is very difficult to quantify, however estimates range from 45 million (2013) to 50 million (2016), excluding those of partial Chinese descent).[6][7] According to the BBC, the Pakistani diaspora amounted to 4.2 million people in 2004.[8] However other sources claim that there are between 4 million in 2009 to 7 million in 2010 (with one source claiming that it may be as high as 10 million based on 2011 figures).[9][10][11][12] In 2016, for the first time, remittances surpassed $20 billion dollars; (out of $441 billion dollars worth of remittances generated worldwide),[13][n. 1] from a diaspora of 10 million (2015).[14][n. 2]