Emigration can be prompted by highly skilled Iranians’ perceptions about the potential for their future careers, earnings, and ability to express themselves. Often, Iranians studying abroad do not return after graduation, instead putting their expertise to work in their countries of residence. In the process, they deprive Iran of the brainpower that could propel a stuttering economy worsened by international sanctions; they also send a signal to others that career prospects are better elsewhere. At times, the government has adopted a hostile attitude towards academics and researchers, making alternate countries more attractive. Other factors are also at play in Iran, including an infrastructure that has not developed in proportion to rapid population growth over the past 40 years, as well as bribery, corruption, and mismanagement that have had a significant negative impact on people's quality of life. Western rivals, meanwhile, have long encouraged scientists and other experts to leave Iran.
Critics say this “brain drain” has contributed to a dearth of expertise, innovation, and productivity that is holding back advancements in Iran’s economy and cultural institutions. Iran's population more than doubled from 1979 to 2019, to 83 million people. Over the same period, Stanford University researchers have estimated that the share of emigrants—including both permanent and temporary migrants—has grown nearly threefold. A large number of these emigrants have been well educated or are in prominent social and cultural positions. Gallup’s Potential Net Migration Index, taken between 2015 and 2017, found that more than one-quarter of highly educated Iranian residents would leave the country if they could.