The Costs of Iran's Massive Brain Drain

The pattern of emigration from Iran has dramatically changed in recent years to become a mass phenomenon not only affecting the most elite and wealthy groups.

While media and factions aligned with the Islamic Republic's government often downplay the scale of emigration, athletes, artists, scholars, healthcare workers, educators, technocrats, farmers are now leaving the country in significant numbers.

The emigration surge has sounded alarm bells from the director of the Iranian Migration Observatory, who characterizes it as a "genocide” of the nation’s human capital.

And sociologist Taghi Azadaramki suggested that an alternate Iran is now taking shape beyond its borders.

At a recent gathering convened by the social science group House of Humanities Thinkers to launch the book "Elite Migration," attendees cited a survey conducted in 2022-23 showing that 60 percent of respondents harbored a strong inclination to leave Iran.

The participants underscored the profound financial implications of the ongoing wave of elite emigration, saying that the departure of each elite individual results in a capital loss of $5 million for the country. 

It was disclosed that the cumulative financial toll attributed to elite emigration in 2013 surpassed $38 billion.

The participants also revealed that seven out of every 10 Iranian Olympiad medalists pursue their studies in the United States.