1.6 million Keralites work overseas out of a population of 32 million. As of 2008, the Keralites in the Gulf countries send home a sum of USD 9.25 billion annually, which is about 10% of Remittance to India. Large numbers work in construction. High literacy allows Keralites to secure administrative employment & white-collar jobs. Migrants' families are three times as likely as those of nonmigrants to live in superior housing, and about twice as likely to have telephones, refrigerators, and cars. Malappuram district has the largest proportion of emigrant households in state. Pathanamthitta and Thrissur districts have on an average one member from each household a non-resident Indian. Of the $71 billion in remittances sent to India in 2012, Kerala still received the highest among the states: $11.3 billion, which is nearly 20%. The foreign remittances in 2014 were estimated to be , which dropped to in 2016. The annual remittance received by the state in 2017 was estimated as , which constituted 35% of the state's total income in the year. In 2018, there were 2.1 million emigrants from the state who made a remittance of . There was a decline of about 3 lakh emigrants from the state during 2013–18. However, the overall remittances showed an increase compared to those of the previous years. There is also another interesting observation made by Kerala Migration Survey in its previous studies, which is, there is a steady rise in migration of highly qualified women professionals from Kerala from the 1990s to 2004. These women migrants were more educated and skilled and are earning more compared to unskilled migrants. There was a diversification of source and destinations among female migrants their migration isn't entirely Middle East oriented and they are predominantly hailing from Central Kerala compared to male migrants who are overwhelmingly from Malabar region and migrate to GCC. There is also more permanent nature of employment for female migrants compared to male migrants. This diversification provided a cushioning from both increasing naturalisation of West Asian countries and tightened immigration laws of Western countries in 2010s this helped to sustain remittance inflow. The women migrants are mainly trained in Nursing. According to a study commissioned by the Kerala State Planning Board, the state should look for other reliable sources instead of relying on remittances to finance its expenditure. Other Kerala is the single largest originator of education loans for the country