Iran Loses $150 Billion a Year to Brain Drain

Iranian Minister of Science, Research and Technology Reza Faraji Dana said on Tuesday that each year 150,000 highly talented people emigrate from Iran, equivalent of losing $150 billion a year for the country.

“In a country where the government budget is 1.95 quadrillion rials (about $78.4 billion), Iran (practically) gives away 150 billion dollars in assistance to other countries (through the brain drain),” Faraji Dana said in a speech at a ceremony honoring the winners of the 18th Scientific Olympiad of Students in Tehran. (Tehran Times, 8 January)

According to estimates of the 1990s, the training of each talented person costs the country about 1 million dollars, Faraji Dana added.

He said Iran is not opposed to the idea of students going abroad for academic studies, but it is perceptible how much Iran will suffer financially if these people do not return due to a “lack of proper conditions” at home.

Photo credit: Iranian Minister of Science, Research and Technology Reza Faraji Dana (Tehran Times)