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)

Where Are Iran’s Top Students?

A friend of our blog has send us the photo of an Iranian newspaper cutout of June 2001, showing the pictures of the top 12 high school students in the country on that year, who had achieved top rankings in the difficult nationwide college entrance exams in the fields of mathematics and engineering, natural sciences, humanities, and arts.

The sender was able to identify some of the pictures and where they ended up after college. I thought to share the info with you.

Top row, right: Ms. Neda Nateq, ranked number one in math and engineering; Stanford University.

Top row, second from right: Ashkan Borna, ranked second in math and engineering, University of California, Berkley.

Top row, third from right: Ehsan Shafieie Pourafard, ranked third in math and engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Top row, fourth from right: Mohammad Fallahi, ranked number one in natural sciences, University of Michigan.

Top row, sixth from right: Payman Habibollahi, ranked third in natural sciences, Harvard.

Bottom row, right: Mohammad Reza Jalalipour, ranked number one in humanities, Evin prison, Tehran.