The Iranian diaspora (collectively known as Iranian expats or expatriates) is the global population of Iranian citizens or people of Iranian descent living outside Iran.[3]
While Iranian migration has occurred historically, a significant wave of Iranians fled Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution due to political persecution under the new government.[4] This trend has continued and intensified in the 2020s due to economic instability and political unrest.
In 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran published statistics showing that 4,037,258 Iranians were living abroad. This figure includes people of Iranian ancestry in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Israel, Turkey, and Bahrain whose families may have left Iran decades prior to the 1979 revolution, as well as those with partial ancestry.[1][2] By December 2025, United Nations data indicated that there were 1.6 million Iranian asylum seekers worldwide, suggesting that approximately 1 in every 15 Iranians has left the country.[5]
Iran has experienced waves of emigration since 1979. The government has proposed the creation of a ministry of immigration following reports indicating critical emigration statistics, largely driven by political instability and economic sanctions.[9][10][11]
Statistics by country
Map of the Iranian diaspora as of 2021
Iran
≥ 1,000,000
≥ 100,000
≥ 10,000
≥ 1,000
Popularity change of countries among Iranian Immigrants (2016–2021)The Lion and Sun flag is commonly used by members of the diaspora as symbol of opposition to the Islamic Republic.
List of countries and territories by Iranian population
Nearly 60 percent of Iranians abroad have earned at least an undergraduate degree. They have some of the highest rates of self-employment among immigrant groups. Many have founded their own companies, including Isaac Larian, the founder of MGA Entertainment, and Pierre Omidyar, who founded eBay in 1995 in San Jose, California. Iranian households in the United States earned on average $87,288 annually as of 2018, and are ranked ninth by income.[29]
According to the Iranian government, 55,686 Iranian students were studying abroad in 2013:[30] 8,883 studied in Malaysia, 7,341 in the United States, 5,638 in Canada, 3,504 in Germany, 3,364 in Turkey, 3,228 in Britain, and the rest in other countries.[31][32] The Iranian Ministry of Education estimated that between 350,000 and 500,000 Iranians were studying outside Iran as of 2014.[33]
In 2000, the Iran Press Service reported that Iranian expatriates had invested between $200 and $400 billion in the United States, Europe, and China, but almost nothing in Iran.[7] In Dubai, Iranian expatriates have invested an estimated $200 billion (2006).[34] Migrant Iranian workers abroad remitted less than two billion dollars home in 2006.[35]
Members of the Iranian diaspora are considered to be mostly secular. The majority of them do not take fundamental Islamic rituals, such as daily prayers or fasting, and have largely embraced Western secularism.[50] According to a 2008 survey by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), 42% of Iranian Americans identified as Muslim, 9% as Christian, 6% as Jewish, 5% as Zoroastrian, 7% as Baháʼí, and 31% as other or non-religious.[51][52][53] A 2012 national telephone survey of a sample of 400 Iranian-Americans, commissioned by the PAAIA and conducted by Zogby Research Services, asked the respondents what their religions were. The responses broke down as follows: Muslim 31%, atheist/realist/humanist 11%, agnostic 8%, Baháʼí 7%, Jewish 5%, Protestant 5%, Roman Catholic 2%, Zoroastrian 2%, "Other" 15%, and "No response" 15%.[54] The survey had a cooperation rate of 31.2%.[54] The margin of error for the results was +/- 5 percentage points, with higher margins of error for sub-groups.[54] Notably, the number of Muslims decreased from 42% in 2008 to 31% in 2012.[54][55]
Notes
In the period between 1961 and 2005, the United States became the main destination of Iranian emigrants. An estimated 378,995 Iranians immigrated to the United States in that period, with California being the most common destination (158,613 Iran-born in 2000),[56]New York (17,323),[56]Texas (15,581),[56]Virginia (10,889),[56] and Maryland (9,733).[56] The Los Angeles Metropolitan Area was estimated to be home to approximately 114,712 Iranian immigrants,[56] earning the Westwood area of Los Angeles the nickname Tehrangeles.
The U.S. Census Bureau's decennial census form does not offer a designation for individuals of Iranian descent, and therefore it is estimated that only a fraction of the total number of Iranians are writing in their ancestry. The 2000 census estimated that the Iranian American community (including the US-born children of the Iranian foreign-born) numbers around 330,000. Studies using alternative statistical methods have estimated the actual number of Iranian Americans in the range of 691,000 to 1.2 million.[7][57]
↑"Diaspora". Iranicaonline.org. Encyclopædia Iranica. December 15, 1995. pp.370–387. Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
High Council of Iranians Abroad- "Strengthening the national identity of Iranians outside Iran and to defend their rights, helping the propagation of Persian calligraphy and language, and easing the participation in national security."
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