In 2008, the volume of remittance was $175 million in Fiji, $135 million in Samoa and $100 million in Tonga (see table 3). Fijians serving on foreign ships bring in around $15 million of remittance annually.4 The Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa and Tonga all have high levels of per capita remittance (Prasad, 2008). In Tonga, for example, remittances have both reduced the poverty headcount from 57 per cent to 32 per cent and significantly impacted inequality, reducing the Gini co-efficient from 0.605 to 0.495 (WB, 2006a: 88). Similarly, in Samoa, family remittances from overseas play a vital role in providing social protection and social security to their relatives and friends living in the country. Samoans overseas contribute towards their “social obligations” by remitting money to their extended family. Almost every Samoan has a relative overseas and money sent back home helps to subsidize the socio-economic needs of the relatives.