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history · Germany

Iranians in Germany: a history

Students and political exiles arrived from the 1960s to the 1980s, many active in the Confederation of Iranian Students.

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DEUHistory

History · Germany · 3 waves · 3 figures

Germany · history

Iranians in Germany: a history

Students and political exiles arrived from the 1960s to the 1980s, many active in the Confederation of Iranian Students.

Go to Germany

All countriesGermany

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Now
Academy126 courses, none open for enrolment yetCivic3 campaigns, 5 programmesHeritage116 days to keep, 40 chronology entriesNews88 approved sources, no confirmed events yetChaptersforming. None is recognised yet
See the figures

History

The Mikrozensus records a migration background, so Iranians and their children are visible.

The account

Germany

Students and political exiles arrived from the 1960s to the 1980s, many active in the Confederation of Iranian Students. Asylum seekers followed in the 1980s and again in the 2010s; first-time applications peaked at 26,426 in 2016 (to verify). Communities grew in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne, Berlin and Munich. Four Iranian Kurdish opposition figures were killed at the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin in 1992; a Berlin court's 1997 judgment attributed the order to Iran's leadership. Germany hosted more refugees from Iran than any other country at the end of 2025: 45,128 (UNHCR).

This history is being expanded. Each claim gets its citation as it is reviewed.

How people arrived

3 waves
  1. 01
    Exile 1979 to 1988
  2. 02
    Asylum 2010s
  3. 03
    Students 2020s

Figures

Figures are shown with their measure, year and source. They are never added together across different measures.

Iranian migration background

2024
324,000 (255,000 immigrants)
Measure
Iranian migration background
Year
2024
Source
Destatis Mikrozensus 2024 via bpb (30 Apr 2026)
Status
secondary
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Iranian citizens, 31 Dec 2024

2024
162,000
Measure
Iranian citizens, 31 Dec 2024
Year
2024
Source
IW-Kurzbericht 19/2026 citing Destatis
Status
secondary
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Born in Iran (stock)

2024
283,454
Measure
born in Iran (stock)
Year
2024
Source
UN DESA International Migrant Stock 2024
Status
verified
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Sources

Each figure keeps the measure, year, source and label the page gives it.

Sources

3 sources
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