TheIranian diaspora (collectively known asIranianexpats orexpatriates) is the global population ofIranian citizens or people of Iranian descent living outsideIran.[3]
In 2021, theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of Iran published statistics which showed that 4,037,258 Iranians are living abroad, an increase from previous years. However, this number includes people of Iranian ancestry living in theUnited Arab Emirates,Kuwait,Israel,Turkey andBahrain whose families left Iran many years, if not many decades, prior to the1979 revolution. This number also includes people with only partial Iranian ancestry.[1][2] Over one million of these people and their extended families live in theUnited States, with anywhere between 100,000 and 500,000 living in countries such asAustralia,Canada,Germany, Israel,Sweden, Turkey, and theUnited Kingdom. Additional communities exist in numerous other countries, including manyEuropean nations,China,India, and the United Arab Emirates, along with several otherMiddle Eastern andLevantine nations.[4][5] Many of these individuals relocated to other countries following the Iranian Revolution.[6][7]
Iran has experiencedwaves of emigration since 1979. The creation of a ministry of immigration has been proposed, after reports indicated critical statistics, largely due to political instability.[8][9][10]
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, includingIsaac Larian, the founder ofMGA Entertainment, andPierre Omidyar, who foundedeBay in 1995 inSan Jose,California. Iranian households in theUnited States earned on average $87,288 annually as of 2018, and areranked ninth by income.[25]
According to theIranian government, 55,686 Iranian students were studying abroad in 2013:[26] 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.[27][28] TheIranian Ministry of Education estimated that between 350,000 and 500,000 Iranians were studying outside Iran as of 2014.[29]
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.[5] InDubai, Iranian expatriates have invested an estimated $200 billion (2006).[30] Migrant Iranian workers abroad remitted less than two billion dollars home in 2006.[31]
Members of the Iranian diaspora are considered to be mostlysecular. The majority of them do not take fundamental Islamic rituals, such as daily prayers or fasting, and have largely embraced Western secularism.[46] According to a 2008 survey by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), 42% of Iranian Americans identified asMuslim, 9% asChristian, 6% asJewish, 5% asZoroastrian, 7% asBaháʼí, and 31% as other or non-religious.[47][48][49] 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%.[50] The survey had a cooperation rate of 31.2%.[50] Themargin of error for the results was +/- 5 percentage points, with higher margins of error for sub-groups.[50] Notably, the number of Muslims decreased from 42% in 2008 to 31% in 2012.[50][51]
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, withCalifornia being the most common destination (158,613 Iran-born in 2000),[52]New York (17,323),[52]Texas (15,581),[52]Virginia (10,889),[52] andMaryland (9,733).[52] TheLos Angeles Metropolitan Area was estimated to be home to approximately 114,712 Iranian immigrants,[52] earning theWestwood area of Los Angeles the nicknameTehrangeles.
TheU.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. The2000 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.[5][53]
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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ArmeniaHrant Markarian, Chairman ofArmenian Revolutionary Federation
AustraliaSam Dastyari,Senator
United KingdomSeema Kennedy, Member of theHouse of Commons
Canada
QuebecAmir Khadir, Member of theNational Assembly of Quebec
OntarioReza Moridi, Member of theLegislative Assembly of Ontario
FrancePouria Amirshahi, Former Member of theFrench National Assembly
GermanyYasmin Fahimi, general secretary of theSocial Democratic Party
IsraelMoshe Katsav,President of Israel
New ZealandGolriz Ghahraman, Member ofNew Zealand Parliament from the52nd New Zealand Parliament part of theGreen Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
NEDFarah Karimi, Member of theHouse of Representatives
NorwayMazyar Keshvari, Member of theStorting
SwedenArdalan Shekarabi,Minister for Public Administration
United StatesGoli Ameri,Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs
WashingtonCyrus Habib, Member of theWashington House of Representatives
KuwaitAhmed Lari, Member ofNational Assembly of Kuwait
