Human capital flight from Iran

Human capital flight from Iran has been a significant phenomenon since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Iran had a substantial drain of highly skilled and educated individuals (15 percent) in the early 1990s. More than 150,000 Iranians left the Islamic Republic every year in the early 1990s, and an estimated 25 percent of all Iranians with post-secondary education then lived abroad in OECD-standard developed countries. A 2009 IMF report indicated that Iran tops the list of countries that are losing their academic elite, with a loss of 150,000 to 180,000 specialists—roughly equivalent to a capital loss of US$50 billion. In addition, the political crackdown following the 2009 Iranian election protests is said to have created a "spreading refugee exodus" of Iranian intelligentsia. It has also been reported that the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States is running a covert operation code-named "Braindrain Project" with the aim of luring away nuclear-oriented Iranian talent, thus undermining Iran's nuclear program.

In 2024 Iranian government stopped issuing visa to people fleeing the country.