Can Rouhani reverse Iran’s brain drain?
The Iranian government must reconcile with the Iranian diaspora for sustainable economic progress.
On Jan. 7, Iran’s Minister of Science, Research and Technology Reza Faraji Dana said, “Every year, about 150,000 highly talented people emigrate from Iran, equaling an annual loss of $150 billion to the economy.” Though the monetary value may be inaccurate (the World Bank put the economic cost of Iran’s brain drain at $50 billion in 2010), the fact is that Iran has experienced one of the highest levels of brain drain over the past decades. According to the International Monetary Fund, Iran has the highest brain drain rate in the world. An estimated 25% of all Iranians with post-secondary education now live in "developed" countries of the OECD.
Faraji Dana went on to outline that Iran has to provide “proper conditions for the return of experts to the country." He cited China as a good example to follow, since it has succeeded in luring its educated people back to the country.
Brain drain has been a negative socioeconomic phenomenon in Iran for decades. It causes a loss of valuable human resources and constrains the country’s economic development. The emigration of educated Iranians has gone through different phases in post-revolutionary Iran. Even prior to the 1979 revolution, the main reason for leaving Iran was to secure a higher educational degree. However, the fact is that in post-revolutionary decades a growing number of such students never returned to the country. In the immediate aftermath of the revolution, arbitrary legal cases, confiscations, discrimination and other sources of tension compelled many Iranians to leave the country. Later, the Iran-Iraq war became the main reason for a large wave of emigration. In the post-war era, a significant segment of families decided to emigrate due to economic, political and social pressures, including a tight domestic job market.
In the late 1990s, under President Mohammad Khatami, the trend reversed and the country witnessed a significant wave of Iranians returning to Iran. The return of the Iranian diaspora coincided with the growing investment of international and domestic private companies, which created job opportunities for educated and talented Iranians. The Khatami administration also managed to attract a number of business families whose companies and assets had been confiscated after the revolution. Their return and the gradual normalization of their status in the country encouraged many diaspora members to consider returning to Iran.
