, 1979–2008. A positive value represents more people entering Iran than leaving it
Recent immigration Most of the large
Circassian migrational waves towards mainland Iran stem from the Safavid and Qajar era. A certain amount is from the relatively recent arrivals that migrated as the Circassians
were displaced from the Caucasus in the 19th century. A
Black African population exists due to
historical slavery. A substantial number of
Russians arrived in the early 20th century as refugees from the
Russian Revolution, but their number has dwindled following the
Iran crisis of 1946 and the
Iranian Revolution. In the 20th to 21st centuries, there has been limited immigration to Iran from Turkey,
Iraq (especially huge numbers during the 1970s known as
Moaveds),
Afghanistan (mostly arriving as refugees in 1978),
Lebanon (especially in
Qom, though a Lebanese community has been present in the nation for centuries),
India (mostly arriving temporarily during the 1950s to 1970s, typically working as doctors, engineers, and teachers),
Korea (mostly in the 1970s as labour migrants),
China (mostly since the 2000s working in engineering or business projects), and
Pakistan, partly due to labour migrants and partly to
Balochi ties across the Iranian-Pakistani border. About 200,000
Iraqis arrived as refugees in 2003, mostly living in refugee camps near the border; an unknown number of these has since returned to Iraq. As of 2025, around 400,000 authorized foreigners were working in Iran, most of whom were Afghan nationals. Over the same period, there has also been substantial emigration from Iran, especially since the
Iranian revolution (see
Iranian diaspora,
Human capital flight from Iran,
Jewish exodus from Iran), especially to the
United States,
Canada,
Germany,
Israel, and
Sweden.
Refugee population Iran hosts one of the largest
refugee population in the world, with more than one million refugees, mostly from
Afghanistan (80%) and
Iraq (10%). Since 2006, Iranian officials have been working with the
UNHCR and Afghan officials for their
repatriation. Between 1979 and 1997, UNHCR spent more than US$1 billion on Afghan refugees in Pakistan but only $150 million on those in Iran. In 1999, the
Iranian government estimated the cost of maintaining its refugee population at US$10 million per day, compared with the US$18 million UNHCR allocated for all of its operations in Iran in 1999. In mid-2025, Iran's government ordered the
mass deportation of undocumented Afghans, targeting an estimated 4 million migrants and refugees residing in the country. Iranian authorities expelled approximately 1.6 million undocumented Afghan migrants between January and October 2025.
Emigration The term "Iranian citizens abroad" or "
Iranian/Persian diaspora" refers to the
Iranian people and their children born in
Iran but living outside of Iran. Migrant Iranian workers abroad remitted less than two billion dollars home in 2006. As of 2010, there are about four to five million
Iranians living abroad, mostly in the United States, Canada,
Europe,
Persian Gulf States,
Turkey, Australia and the broader
Middle East. According to the 2000 Census and other independent surveys, there are an estimated 1 million
Iranian-Americans living in the U.S., in particular, the
Los Angeles area is estimated to be host to approximately 72,000 Iranians, earning the
Westwood area of LA the nickname
Tehrangeles. Other metropolises that have large Iranian populations include
Dubai with 300,000 Iranians,
Vancouver,
London,
Toronto,
San Francisco Bay Area,
Washington D.C.,
Buenos Aires,
Mexico City,
Stockholm,
Berlin,
Hamburg and
Frankfurt. Their combined
net worth is estimated to be $1.3 trillion. Note that this differs from the other
Iranian peoples living in other areas of
Greater Iran, who are of related ethnolinguistical family, speaking languages belonging to the
Iranian languages which is a branch of
Indo-European languages. ==People of Iranian ancestry==