The term
Iranians abroad or
Iranian diasporaA diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
refers to the Iranian people born in
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
but living outside of Iran with their children.
As of 2010, there are an estimated four to five million Iranians living abroad, mostly in North America, Europe,
Persian Gulf StatesPersian Gulf States can refer to:* Countries in the Middle East bordering the Persian Gulf and sometimes known as the Gulf States: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates....
,
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and the broader
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. For the most part they emigrated after the
Iranian RevolutionThe Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
in 1979. In addition, a considerable number of people who claim Iranian origins are found in
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and Muslim communities in
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Their combined
net worthIn business, net worth is the total assets minus total outside liabilities of an individual or a company. For a company, this is called shareholders' preference and may be referred to as book value. Net worth is stated as at a particular year in time...
is $1.3 trillion (2006 est.) 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
DubaiDubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
, Iranian expatriates have invested an estimated $200 billion (2006). Migrant Iranian workers abroad remitted less than two billion dollars home in 2006.
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 investmentsForeign direct investment in Iran has been hindered by unfavorable or complex operating requirements and by international sanctions, although in the early 2000s the Iranian government liberalized investment regulations. Iran ranks 62nd in the World Economic Forum's 2011 analysis of the global...
. 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 [sic], respectively.
Statistics by country
{| style="font-size:90%;"
|-
|
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"
! style="width:2em;" | Country !! Iranian-born !! Residents of Iranian ancestry
|-
|
United States
| 283,225 (2000)
| 338,266 (2000 United States Census) to 1-1.5 million (2009)
|-
|
United Arab Emirates UAEThe United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
| ?
| 400,000 (2008)
|-
|
Canada
| 95,420 (2006)
| 121,505 (99,225 as single response and 22,280 among multiple responses)
|-
|
Germany
| 100,000 - 120,000 (2003)
|
|-
|
Kuwait
| 80,000 (2003)
|
|-
|
Malaysia
| 60,000 (2011)
|
|-
|
Sweden
| 53,892 (2000)
| 12,464 (2003)
|-
|
Japan
| 12,000 (2000)
| 7,000 (2000)
|-
|
Russia
| 50,000 (2002)
|
|-
|
Bahrain
| 48,000 (1998)
|
|-
|
Israel
| 47,800 (2007)
| 135,000 (2007)
|-
|
United Kingdom
| 42,494 (2000)
|
|-
|
Netherlands
| 30,617 (2009)
|
|-
|
Australia
|
| 18,798 (2001)
|-
|
Early Modern France
| 18,376 (2000)
|
|-
|
Turkey
|
| 7,831 (1990)
|-
|
Denmark
|
| 8,977 (1991)
|-
|
Italy
|
| 7,444 (2010)
|-
|
Austria
|
| 5,926{ (2001)
|-
|
Switzerland
|
| 4,044 (2000)
|-
|
Norway
|
| 4,095 (2001)
|-
|
New Zealand
|
| 2,895 (2006)
|-
|
Spain
|
| 2,334 (2007)
|-
| Total:
|
|
|}
See also
- Iranian nationality law
Iranian nationality law contains principles of both jus sanguinis and jus soli. Children acquire nationality of Iran through their fathers, but not their mothers...
- Tourism in Iran
- Visa requirements for Iranian citizens
It is estimated that Iranian citizens are allowed visa-free access to 43 countries and territories for short-term visits.-Africa:-Americas:-Asia:-Europe:-Oceania:...
- Privatization in Iran
- Anti-Iranian sentiments
- Demography of Iran
- Iran's brain drain
According to the International Monetary Fund, the Islamic Republic of Iran ranks first in "brain drain" among 61 "developing" and "less developed" countries it measured....
- Foreign relations of Iran
Foreign relations of Iran refers to inter-governmental relationships between Iran and other countries. Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the newly-born Islamic Republic, under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, dramatically reversed the pro-Western foreign policy of the last Shah of Iran,...
- Iranian Space Agency
The Iranian Space Agency is Iran's governmental space agency. Iran is an active participant in the Asian space race and became an orbital-launch-capable nation in 2009...
- Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran
- International rankings of Iran
External links