At least 300,000 people leave Iran every year

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 20

By Umid Niayesh – Trend:

Every year some 300,000 Iranians leave the country, according to Mohammad Arbabi, secretary of the 33rd Annual Congress of Iranian Psychiatric Association.

The figure, which is almost equal to population of a city, includes 150,000 high-educated young Iranians, Arbabi said, Tasnim news agency reported Oct. 20.

Iran has suffered high degrees of brain drain in the past, as many talented students ended up in Western universities, further deciding to stay, after finishing their education.

A 2010 report by Iranian parliament suggested that at least 60,000 of total people who left the country that year were academic elite.

The political crackdown following the 2009 presidential election protests is said to have created a refugee exodus of the Iranian elite.

A report by the International Monetary Fund in 2009 indicated that Iran tops the list of countries losing their academic elite with an annual loss of 150,000 to 180,000 specialists. This is equivalent to a capital loss of $50 billion.

The number of Iranians residing abroad is estimated at 5 to 6 million people.

Javad Ghavam Shahidi, the chairman of the High Council on Iranian Expatriates Affairs, said in 2014 that almost 7 percent of Iran’s total population is living abroad.

Iranians mostly live in North America, Europe, Gulf states, Turkey, Australia and the broader Middle East.