UAE tops Arab world in human development as global progress stalls

Al Etihad

07-05-2025

8 May 2025 00:16
ISIDORA CIRIC (ABU DHABI)The UAE has emerged as the highest-ranked country in the Arab region and 15th globally in the latest UN Human Development Report, released on Tuesday. With a Human Development Index (HDI) score of 0.940, the country is positioned ahead of the United States, Canada, and 12 spots above Saudi Arabia - the next country from the region on the list.The report, titled "A Matter of Choice: People and Possibilities in the Age of AI", comes at a time when global development has largely stalled. The UNDP said that progress remains sluggish following the shocks of 2020-2021, with 2024 projected to see one of the weakest gains in human development since records began in 1990.The UAE, however, has moved in the opposite direction, climbing eight places since the last edition and continuing to log strong outcomes in health, education, and income.Its HDI score of 0.940 puts it in the top bracket of countries categorised as having "very high human development". The Arab regional average HDI stands at 0.719, well below the UAE's, with the country outperforming regional peers in life expectancy, expected years of schooling, and gross national income per capita.When inequality is factored in, the UAE's performance remains consistent, suggesting that inequality in income, education, and access to services doesn't appear to erode the overall level of development as severely as it does elsewhere in the region. The UAE's inequality-adjusted HDI shows only a 7.9% loss from its original score, much below the regional average loss of 24.3%.Gender is another area where the UAE stood out both regionally and internationally. It ranked 13th globally on the Gender Inequality Index, a composite measure tracking disparities in reproductive health, political empowerment, and workforce participation. The country recorded low maternal mortality and adolescent birth rates, a high female representation in parliament, and more women in secondary education than men.The Gender Development Index (GDI), which compares the HDI values of men and women, confirms this trajectory. Among Arab countries, the UAE's GDI scores position it as a leader in terms of gender development and equality. Here, it falls into the second-highest development bracket, with a relatively narrow gap between male and female outcomes in life expectancy, education, and income.Outside the traditional development areas, the report pointed to the nation's growing role in emerging sectors. According to the data cited by the UNDP, the UAE recorded the world's third-highest net AI skills migration rate in 2023, and it also leads the region in self-reported AI skills penetration on LinkedIn, close to the global average.
While most large-scale AI models still originate from the US, China, and the UK, the report mentions only the UAE and Saudi Arabia among the few other countries contributing to this space.