UAE Global Competitiveness Milestones Achieved In 2025 Across Sectors

The United Arab Emirates is strengthening its status in global indices in 2025, with higher scores across competitiveness, human development, digital readiness and healthcare. The country now sits among the world’s leading economies, supported by consistent performance in institutional quality, safety, entrepreneurship and foreign investment.

A key result is the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2025, where the UAE reached the global top five with 96.09 points out of 100. This reflects a rise of two positions from 2024 and confirms the UAE as the highest-ranked country in the region for nine straight years.

Entrepreneurship indicators complement these competitiveness gains. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Report 2024/2025 placed the UAE first worldwide for the fourth year running. The report assessed 56 economies and judged the UAE as offering the best conditions for entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises, supporting a strong economic environment.

Foreign investment trends also support UAE global competitiveness. The UNCTAD World Investment Report 2025 listed the UAE 10th globally for FDI inflows, with AED 167.6 billion ($45.6 billion) recorded in 2024. This volume reflects sustained investor confidence in the UAE’s regulatory setting and macroeconomic stability.

Digital transformation metrics underline the technology profile behind UAE global competitiveness. In the second "State of Digital Transformation Report", the UAE ranked first worldwide for telecommunications infrastructure, the institutional framework for digital government and the digital content index, highlighting strong foundations for digital public and private services.

The UAE also led the global "Government AI Readiness Index 2024" by Oxford Insights. It ranked third for government service delivery and came fourth in the World Bank GovTech Maturity Index. The country held 11th place in both the IMD Digital Competitiveness Index and the UN E-Government Development Index.

Human development, soft power and UAE global competitiveness

Human development and image indicators further support UAE global competitiveness. In the 2025 UNDP Human Development Index, the UAE advanced 11 places to 15th worldwide and remained the only Arab country within the top 20, reflecting progress in education, health and living standards.

Reputation metrics have also shifted. The Global Soft Power Index 2025, released in London in February, ranked the UAE 10th globally. The country’s Nation Brand value increased from $1 trillion to $1.223 trillion in 2025, indicating stronger international recognition of its economic and policy profile.

Health, talent and safety within UAE global competitiveness

The Health Inclusivity Index, designed by Haleon with Economist Impact, highlighted healthcare as another pillar of UAE global competitiveness. The UAE ranked first worldwide for health outreach programmes, community participation in health policy and promotion of wellbeing. It was among the global top five for person-centred healthcare and second for inclusive health system implementation.

The same index placed the UAE 10th worldwide for health literacy, showing growing public awareness of health issues. Talent indicators also moved up. In the IMD World Talent Rankings, the UAE climbed eight places to ninth in 2025, with strong scores in workforce readiness and international appeal, supporting long-term knowledge and skills development.

Public safety strengthens the wider picture of UAE global competitiveness. In Numbeo’s mid-2025 Safety Index, the UAE was named the safest country worldwide, with a score of 85.2. Together with economic, digital and social performance, these results outline a broad-based improvement across national competitiveness measures.

With inputs from WAM