Iranian diaspora


Iranians abroad or Iranian diaspora are Iranian people living outside Iran and their children born abroad.
According to various sources, in 2010, there were an estimated between 2 to 3 million Iranians living abroad, mostly in North America, Europe, Persian Gulf States, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Australia and the broader Middle East. Others estimate a lower number, of around 1.5 million or less. For the most part, they emigrated after the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

Students abroad

According to the Iranian government in 2013, 55,686 Iranian students were studying abroad. Out of this number, 8,883 students were studying 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. According to an estimate by the Iranian Ministry of Education, between 350 and 500 thousand Iranians were studying outside Iran as of 2014.
According to experts, a Western-educated Iranian can earn in excess of $15,000 a month, up to about $250,000 a year, in a senior executive role at a Western conglomerate in Iran.

Statistics by country

Politics

Their combined net worth is $1.3 trillion 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. In Dubai, Iranian expatriates have invested an estimated $200 billion. Migrant Iranian workers abroad remitted less than two billion dollars home in 2006.

High net-worth individuals

National rankingNameCitizenshipNet worth Source of wealth
1Pierre Omidyar
12.9 billion eBay
2Ghermezian family
4.0 billion Triple Five Group
3Farhad Moshiri
2.8 billion Metalloinvest, Everton
4Nazarian family
2.0 billion Qualcomm
5Vincent & Robert Tchenguiz
1.4 billion Real Estate
6Manny Mashouf
1.3 billion Bebe stores
7Merage family
1.1 billion Hot Pockets
8Nasser David Khalili
1.0 billion Real Estate
9Hassan Khosrowshahi
950 million Future Shop
10Omid Kordestani
900 million Google
11Anousheh Ansari
750 million Sonus Networks
12Isaac Larian
723 million MGA Entertainment
13Arash Ferdowsi
400 million Dropbox

Expatriate fund

The government has proposed setting up a joint investment fund with $5 billion in basic capital and an economic union to serve Iranians living abroad. The stated goal is to attract investment from Iranian expatriates and using their experience in stimulating foreign investments. Later, in 2010, it was announced that Iran will start the process by creating a national fund with a basic capital of eight million euros. This fund will later transform into a bank.
The currency used in the fund is the euro and investors are supported by the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran. Iran will pay a guaranteed 10 percent interest on foreign investment. The value of each share in the fund is 1,000 euros. The minimum and the maximum investment amounts are 100,000 and 500,000 shares , respectively.

Religious affiliation

Iranians are predominantly Shia Muslims. A number of Iranians have converted to Christianity in the diaspora from the predominant Shia Islam. While this group accounts for rather a small percentage of the total diaspora population, it is now far from marginal, with dozens of Iranian churches existing throughout countries with significant Iranian communities, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany. There also notable groups of Baha'i, Jewish, and Zoroastrian Iranians.
A significant number of Iranians abroad are irreligious, Agnostic and Atheist. While reliable statistics are difficult to come by, it is safe to say that the percentage of irreligious Iranians is significantly higher in the diaspora than in Iran, particularly with regard to Iranian-Americans and those living in Europe and Canada.

Literature

at SFSU is the first academic center of its kind, dedicated to research and teaching about the historical and cultural experiences of the global Iranian diaspora.