Iranian diaspora
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Iranian diaspora refers to Iranian people or those who are of Iranian ancestry living outside
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
.Азербайджанцы хорошо интегрированы в германское общество – Нусрет Дельбест , Азербайджанцы хорошо интегрированы в германское общество – Нусрет Дельбест , Ежедневный информационный ресурс – "Azeri.ru – Азербайджанцы в России"
. "Azeri.ru. Retrieved on 201106-18.
As of 2010, there were an estimated two to three million Iranians living abroad. Many of them lived in
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,
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
,
Persian Gulf States The Arab states of the Persian Gulf refers to a group of Arab states which border the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. ...
,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
,
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and the broader
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
. Other studies have estimated about 1.5 million or fewer Iranians living abroad. Many of them have migrated to other countries after the
Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...
in 1979, for security reasons. In 2021, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( fa, وزارت امور خارجه, Vezārat-e Omūr-e Khārejeh) is an Iranian government ministry headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is a member of cabinet. The current Minister of Foreign Affairs ...
published new statistics, which showed that 4,037,258
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ians are living abroad, an increase from previous years.


Statistics by country


Socioeconomic status

Nearly 60 percent of Iranians abroad have earned at least an undergraduate degree, and have one of the highest rates of self-employment among immigrant groups. Many have founded their own companies, including
Isaac Larian Isaac Larian (born March 28, 1954) is an Iranian-born American billionaire businessman, founder and the chief executive officer (CEO) of MGA Entertainment, the world's largest privately owned toy company.MGA Entertainment, and Pierre Omidyar, who founded
eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...
in 1995 in San Jose,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. Iranian households earn on average $87,288 annually, and are ranked ninth by income in the
United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
.


Students abroad

According to the
Iranian government The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( fa, نظام جمهوری اسلامی ایران, Neẓām-e jomhūrī-e eslāmi-e Irān, known simply as ''Neẓām'' ( fa, نظام, lit=the system) among its supporters) is the ruling state a ...
, 55,686 Iranian students were studying abroad in 2013: 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. The Iranian Ministry of Education estimated that between 350,000 and 500,000 Iranians were studying outside Iran as of 2014.


Politics

*
Hrant Markarian Hrant Hovsepi Markarian ( hy, Հրանտ Հովսեփի Մարգարյան; born 1958) is an Armenians, Armenian politician who previously served as the head of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation party's top executive body, the ARF Bureau. Ma ...
, Chairman of
Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...
* Sam Dastyari, Senator *
Seema Kennedy Seema Louise Ghiassi Kennedy (' Ghiassi, fa, سیما غیاثی; born 6 October 1974) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at both the Department of Health and Social Care and the ...
, Member of the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
*
Haleh Afshar Haleh Afshar, Baroness Afshar, ( fa, هاله افشار; 21 May 1944 – 12 May 2022) was a British life peer in the House of Lords. She had a life-long interest in women's rights and Islamic law. She was a professor at the University of York ...
, Member of the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
*
David Alliance David Alliance, Baron Alliance, ( fa, داوود آلیانس, he, דייוויד אליאנס; born 15 June 1932) is an Iranian-British businessman and Liberal Democrat politician of Iranian origin. Personal David Alliance (originally Davou ...
, Member of the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
*
Amir Khadir Amir Khadir ( fa, امیر خدیر; born June 12, 1961) is a Canadian politician in the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA), Canada for the electoral district of Mercier, and the first male spokesperson for Québec solidaire, a sovereigntist and ...
, Member of the
National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (officially in french: link=no, Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the legislative body of the province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; french: link=no, déput ...
*
Reza Moridi Reza Moridi ( fa, رضا مریدی; born ) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2007 to 2018 who represented the riding of Richmond Hill. He served as a cabinet minist ...
, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario * Majid Jowhari, Member of the
Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the ...
*
Ali Ehsassi Ali Cyrus Ehsassi ( fa, علی احساسی‎; born April 24, 1970) is a Canadian politician currently serving as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Willowdale, Ontario riding of Willowdale in the House of Commons of Canada in the 2015 fe ...
, Member of the
Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the ...
*
Pouria Amirshahi Pouria Amirshahi (born 27 March 1972 in Shemiran, Iran), is a French politician. He was a Deputy in the National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, ...
, Former Member of the French National Assembly *
Mahmoud Khayami Mahmoud Khayami, CBE, KSS, GCFO (7 January 1930 – 28 February 2020) was an Iranian industrialist and philanthropist of French nationality. Life Mahmoud Khayami was born in 1930 in Mashhad, Persia where he attended elementary and high scho ...
, founder of Iran Khodro * Pierre Omidyar, investigative journalist for
Honolulu Civil Beat Honolulu Civil Beat is a news website that practices journalism related to the U.S. state of Hawaii. Journalists and editors at Civil Beat have traveled to other U.S. held territories and military installations in the Pacific, reporting on curren ...
and
First Look Media First Look Media is an American nonprofit media organization founded by Pierre Omidyar in October 2013 as a venue for "original, independent journalism". Overview The project was started as a collaboration with Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, ...
, also founder of
eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...
*
Patrick Ali Pahlavi Prince Patrick Ali Pahlavi ( fa, پاتریک علی پهلوی; born 1 September 1947) is a member of the deposed Pahlavi dynasty of Iran and was heir presumptive from 1954 to 1960. According to the former constitution of Iran Patrick was the f ...
, member of the
Pahlavi dynasty The Pahlavi dynasty ( fa, دودمان پهلوی) was the last Iranian royal dynasty, ruling for almost 54 years between 1925 and 1979. The dynasty was founded by Reza Shah Pahlavi, a non-aristocratic Mazanderani soldier in modern times, who ...
*
Yasmin Fahimi Yasmin Fahimi (born 25 December 1967) is a German trade unionist and politician who has been chairing the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) since 2022. From 2017 to 2022, Fahimi served as a member of the German Bundestag. From January 201 ...
, general secretary of the
Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...
*
Sahra Wagenknecht Sahra Wagenknecht (born Sarah Wagenknecht; ; 16 July 1969) is a German politician, economist, author and publicist. Since 2009, she has been a member of the Bundestag for The Left. From 2015 to 2019 she served as parliamentary co-chair of her pa ...
, Member of the
Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
and deputy chairperson of the Left Party *
Omid Nouripour Omid Nouripour ( fa, امید نوری‌پور; born 18 June 1975) is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2006, representing the state of Hesse. Since 2022, he has also been ...
, Member of the
Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
, ( Alliance '90/The Greens) *
Moshe Katsav Moshe Katsav ( he, מֹשֶׁה קַצָּב; born 5 December 1945) is an Israeli former politician who was the eighth President of Israel from 2000 to 2007. He was also a leading Likud member of the Israeli Knesset and a minister in its cabine ...
,
President of Israel The president of the State of Israel ( he, נְשִׂיא מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Nesi Medinat Yisra'el, or he, נְשִׂיא הַמְדִינָה, Nesi HaMedina, President of the State) is the head of state of Israel. The posi ...
*
Dan Halutz Dan Halutz ( he, דן חלוץ, ; born August 7, 1948) is an Israeli Air Force lieutenant general and former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and commander of the Israeli Air Force. Halutz served as chief of staff in 2005–2007. Biog ...
, Chief of General Staff *
Shaul Mofaz Shaul Mofaz ( he, שאול מופז; 4 November 1948) is a retired Israeli military officer and politician. He joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1966 and served in the Paratroopers Brigade. He fought in the Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, 1982 Le ...
, Minister of Defense *
Golriz Ghahraman Golriz Ghahraman ( fa, گلریز قهرمان; born 1981) is an Iranian-born New Zealand politician, member of Parliament, and author. The former United Nations lawyer was a child asylum seeker, and became the first refugee elected to New Zea ...
, Member of
New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand ( King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by h ...
from the 52nd New Zealand Parliament part of the
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand ( mi, Rōpū Kākāriki o Aotearoa, Niu Tireni), commonly known as the Greens, is a green and left-wing political party in New Zealand. Like many green parties around the world, it has four organisational ...
* Farah Karimi, Member of the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
* Mazyar Keshvari, Member of the Storting *
Ardalan Shekarabi Ardalan Shekarabi ( fa, اردلان شکرآبی; born 28 November 1978) is a Swedish politician and former party chairman. He was appointed Minister for Social Security in October 2019, and had previously served as Minister for Public Adminis ...
, Minister for Public Administration *
Maryam Yazdanfar Maryam Yazdanfar ( fa, مریم یزدانفر; born 1980) is an Iranian-Swedish social democratic politician. She has been a member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), a ...
, Member of the Riksdag * Reza Khelili Dylami, Member of the Riksdag *
Goli Ameri Goli Ameri ( fa, گلی عامری; ''née'' Goli Yazdi; born September 26, 1956) is an Iranian American businesswoman and former U.S. diplomat. She is the co-founder of a mobile technology platform called StartItUp, which provides resources to as ...
,
Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, a bureau within the United States Department of State. The Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cul ...
* Cyrus Amir-Mokri,
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions The Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions is an official in the United States Department of the Treasury who is the head of the Office of Financial Institutions. The office "helps formulate policy on financial institution ...
*
Cyrus Habib Kamyar Cyrus Habib, (born August 22, 1981) is an American Jesuit, politician, lawyer, and educator who served as the 16th Lieutenant Governor of Washington from 2017 to 2021. As of the time of his departure from office, he was the first and only ...
, Member of the
Washington House of Representatives The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Washington State Legislature, and along with the Washington State Senate makes up the legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is composed of 98 Representatives from 49 ...
* Azita Raji,
United States Ambassador to Sweden The United States Ambassador to Sweden ( sv, Förenta Staternas ambassadör i Sverige) serves as the official diplomatic representative of the President and the Government of the United States of America to the King and the Government of the Kin ...
*
Bob Yousefian Bob Yousefian is the former mayor of Glendale, California. Biography Bob Yousefian was born in Iran, moved to Lebanon as a teenager and later followed his family to the United States. On April 3, 2001, Yousefian won the election and became a m ...
, Mayor of
Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...
* Jimmy Delshad,
Mayor of Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, California was incorporated January 24, 1914. The City Council members of Beverly Hills are elected by the voters. The rotating positions of Mayor and Vice Mayor are selected by the City Council from among themselves. The following ...


Economics

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 Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
, Iranian expatriates have invested an estimated $200 billion (2006). Migrant Iranian workers abroad remitted less than two billion dollars home in 2006.


High net-worth individuals


Expatriate fund

The fund's stated goal is to attract investment from Iranian expatriates and to use their experience in stimulating foreign investments.


Religious affiliation

Some expatriate Iranians consider themselves irreligious, agnostic, or atheist.


Notes

In the period from 1961 to 2005, the United States has been the main destination of Iranian emigrants. An estimated 378,995 Iranians have immigrated to the United States in that period, where Iranian immigrants have primarily immigrated to
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
(158,613 Iran-born in 2000), New York (17,323),
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
(15,581),
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
(10,889), and
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
(9,733). The
Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino C ...
was estimated to be host to approximately 114,712 Iranian immigrants, earning the Westwood area of Los Angeles the nickname
Tehrangeles Tehrangeles ( fa, تهرانجلس) (or Little Persia) is a portmanteau deriving from the combination of ''Tehran'', the capital of Iran, and ''Los Angeles''. A Persian community developed in Westwood, Los Angeles after the Islamic Revolution of ...
. The
US Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
'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 Bureau estimates that the
Iranian American Iranian Americans are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry or who hold Iranian citizenship. Iranian Americans are among the most highly educated people in the United States. They have historically excelled in busin ...
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.


See also

*
Demography of Iran Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...
*
Foreign relations of Iran The foreign relations of Iran are the economic and diplomatic relationships between the Iranian government and governments of other countries. Geography is a very significant factor in informing Iran's foreign policy. Following the 1979 Iranian ...
*
Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran The Industrial Development & Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO) known as IDRO Group was established in 1967 in Iran. IDRO Group is one of the largest companies in Iran. It is also one of the largest conglomerates in Asia. IDRO's objective is t ...
* Iran's brain drain *
Iranian nationality law Iranian nationality law contains principles of both '' jus sanguinis'' and '' jus soli''. The full nationality law is defined in Book 2 of the Civil Code of Iran, Articles 976 through 991. Definition of Iranian nationals Article 976 of the Civ ...
*
Tourism in Iran Tourism in Iran is diverse, providing a range of activities from hiking and skiing in the Alborz and Zagros mountains, to beach holidays by the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. The Iranian government has made concerted efforts to attract to ...
*
Visa requirements for Iranian citizens Visa requirements for Iranian citizens are administrative entry restrictions imposed on citizens of Iran by the authorities of other states. As of January 2023, Iranian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 44 countries and territ ...


References


Sources

*


External links


History of Iranian diaspora
-
Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

Country Profile - Iran
Migration Policy Institute (including modern history of Iranian migration)
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."
Iranians Abroad - resources and links parstimes.comIranian Alliances Across Borders (IAAB)
(non-profit, non-partisan, and non-religious)

- press article (2009)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iranian Diaspora