Contradictory statistics from the Iranian Vice Presidency on the number of Iranian immigrants in the world
The Vice President of Iran for Science and Technology announced that the population of Iranian immigrants in the world will be around 1.9 million by 2020, which is equivalent to approximately 2.3 percent of the country's total population.
The report of the Vice President for Science and Technology was presented at the meeting of the Iranian government delegation on Sunday, January 12.
The announcement of the figure of 1.9 million Iranian immigrants in the world comes while the Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Iranians Abroad, affiliated with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced last year that there are currently about 4 million 37 thousand Iranians living abroad, 76 percent of whom live in the United States and Europe.
Iranian authorities have so far released different and conflicting reports on the actual number of Iranians living abroad, including immigrants, asylum seekers, workers, and students.
The Vice President of Iran for Science and Technology has also stated that, based on available statistics, the lowest ranking of Iranians among immigrant groups in host societies is in Sweden (rank 5) and the highest ranking is in England (rank 29).
This is while statistics from the Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Iranians Abroad show that there are currently 1.5 million Iranians living in the Americas, with about 79% of them living in the United States and 21% living in Canada.
On the other hand, about 1.2 million Iranians live in continental Europe, with the UK (400,000) and Germany (319,000) being the largest hosts of Iranians living in Europe. Sweden, France, and the Netherlands are in the next ranks.
The Vice President for Science and Technology also ranked Iran 87th out of 150 countries in the world, based on the ranking of countries in Gallup's three potential migration flow indicators.
Gallup polls published on its website show that if Iranians who want to leave the country do so, Iran's population will decrease by 16%.
This figure is 27% for the educated class. Of course, these statistics are from surveys conducted between 2015 and 2017, before the US withdrew from the JCPOA.
The country's economic, livelihood, and welfare situation has become extremely critical since 2017.
Recently, officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran have made statements urging Iranians living abroad to return to the country and invest.
Iranian authorities claim that there is no ban on the return of Iranians living abroad, but so far there have been many reports of the arrest of Iranians who have returned to the country, and some of them have even been traded with prisoners affiliated with the Islamic Republic in foreign countries.
Source: Radio Farda
