The Effects of Social Capital on Tendency to Emigration from Iran

The fall of social capital is a key situational-structural factor influencing the increasing tendency of emigration from Iran in recent years. The aim of this article is to examine the effects of social capital, its dimensions and levels on tendency of Iranians to emigration from the country using secondary analysis of the National Survey of Social Capital in 2014. The sample size includes 14035 people aged 18 and over in 31 provinces of the country, both of urban and rural areas. Results indicated 37 percent of respondents have low level of social capital, and one-fourth of them have high tendency to emigration from Iran. The results of bivariate analysis showed that all dimensions and levels of social capital significantly have negative relationships with emigration tendency. Finally, multivariate analysis (ordinal regression) indicated that with controlling for demographic-contextual variables, the effects of social capital on tendency to emigration still significant and strong. Thus, with the decline of different dimensions and levels of social capital, tendency to emigration from Iran is increased. In conclusion, one of important factors on increasing international migration from Iran is declining of social capital.