Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education has said that one million medical tourists, mainly from neighbouring countries, arrive in the country each year.  While these numbers have fallen to 250,000 in 2021, it expects numbers to be around a million in 2022.

The majority of inbound medical tourists to Iran are from nearby countries including Iraq and Afghanistan.

Its neighbours are many – bounded to the north by Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and the Caspian Sea, to the east by Pakistan and Afghanistan, to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and to the west by Turkey and Iraq.

90% of foreign patients in Iran are from Afghanistan, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.