Economy of the United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates is a high-income developing market economy, which also advocates for Islamic economics. Its economy is the 4th largest in the Middle East, with a gross domestic product of US$415 billion in 2021–2023.
The country's economy is reliant on revenues from hydrocarbons, especially in Abu Dhabi. In 2009, more than 85% of the UAE's economy was based on the oil exports. In 2011, oil exports accounted for 77% of the UAE's state budget. In recent years, there has been some economic diversification, particularly in Dubai. Abu Dhabi and other UAE emirates have remained relatively conservative in their approach to diversification. Dubai has far smaller oil reserves than its counterparts.
Hospitality is one of the biggest non-commodity sources of revenue in the UAE.
In 2007, there was US$350 billion worth of active construction projects.
The UAE is a member of the UNCTAD, World Trade Organization and OPEC.

Economic overview

UAE has the second-largest economy and the best in the Arab world, with a gross domestic product of US$414 billion in 2018. A third of the GDP is from oil revenues. The economy was expected to grow 4–4.5% in 2013, compared to 2.3–3.5% over the previous five years. Since independence in 1971, UAE's economy has grown by nearly 231 times to AED1.45 trillion in 2013. The non-oil trade has grown to AED1.2 trillion, a growth of around 28 times from 1981 to 2012.
The UAE's economy is one of the most open worldwide, and its economic history goes back to the times when ships sailed to India, along the Swahili coast, as far south as Mozambique.
The UAE economy has been ‘inspected’ by international economic institutions on a regular basis, generally receiving good reports on economic developments. International Monetary Fund expected UAE's economic growth to increase to 4.5% in 2015, compared to 4.3% in 2014. The IMF ascribed UAE's potentially strong economic growth in World Economic Outlook Report to the increased contribution of non-petroleum sectors, which registered a growth average of more than 6% in 2014 and 2015. Such contribution includes banking, tourism, commerce and real estate. Increase of Emirati purchasing power and governmental expenditures in infrastructure projects have considerably increased.
Internationally, UAE is ranked among the top 20 for global service business, according to AT Kearney, the top 30 on the WEF "most-networked countries" and in the top quarter as a least corrupt country per the TI's corruption index.
The government of the United Arab Emirates announced a broad restructuring and merger of more than 50% of its federal agencies, including ministries and departments, in an attempt to deal with and recover from the economic shocks following months-long coronavirus lockdown.

Historical background

Before independence from the United Kingdom and unification in 1971, each emirate was responsible for its own economy. At the time, pearl diving, seafaring and fishing were together the mainstay of the economy, until the development of Japanese cultured pearls and the discovery of commercial quantities of oil. Previous UAE President Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan is credited with bringing the country forward into the 20th century and using the revenue from oil exports to fund all the necessary development. Likewise, former UAE vice-president Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum had a bold vision for the Emirate of Dubai and foresaw the future in not petroleum alone, but also other industries.
In the 1980s, Dubai's diversification centred around trade and the creation of shipping and logistics centres, notably Port Rashid and the port and Free Zone of Jebel Ali as well as Dubai International Airport, leading to a number of major global plays in shipping, transportation and logistics.

2008-present

The emergence of Dubai's lively real estate market was briefly stopped by the 2008 financial crisis, when Dubai was bailed out by Abu Dhabi. The recovery from the overheated market led to tighter regulation and oversight and a more realistic market for real estate throughout the UAE with many 'on hold' projects restarting. Although the market continues to expand, current market conditions for developers have been characterised as 'tough'.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates, the UAE's economy shrank by 6.1% in 2020. The country's account balance dropped to six per cent of GDP in 2020 from 8.5 per cent in 2019 due to the underperformance of both hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon exports mitigated by lower imports.
In late 2021, the authority announced that UAE's banking assets are expected to grow by between 8 per cent and 10 per cent in 2022 as the second-biggest Arab economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also announced the UAE's economy might grow at a faster than projected rate, reaching 4.6% in 2022.
In March 2022, the UAE was put in the “gray list” by the Financial Action Task Force over money laundering and terror financing concerns. In February 2024, the country was successfully removed from the watchlist and escaped the FATF's monitoring process. While the global watchdog said the Emirates addressed the shortcomings, critics argued that the move was driven by political considerations. In December 2022, the European Commission added the UAE to its blacklist over illicit financial flows. In January 2025, the UAE Economy Minister Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri criticized the EU for continuing to consider the country on its blacklist, despite its removal from the FATF's “gray list”. In July 2025, the European Parliament approved the European Commission's updated money laundering blacklist that removed the UAE, despite earlier opposition from the MEPs. Transparency International, along with lawmaker and civil society groups, criticized the Parliament's decision, saying it is premature to judge if the UAE's reforms are effective and that the decision appears to be politically motivated.

Data

The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2024.

Year	GDP	GDP per capita	GDP	GDP per capita	GDP growth	Inflation rate	Government debt
1980	41.7	41,312	89.3	88,437	-1.8%	10.1%	n/a
1985	38.5	27,913	111.5	80,817	-2.5%	3.5%	n/a
1990	50.7	27,485	154.1	83,542	23.6%	0.6%	n/a
1995	63.4	26,309	210.5	87,310	6.6%	4.3%	n/a
2000	103.0	34,386	307.9	102,795	12.3%	1.3%	3.1%
2005	180.6	43,984	448.3	109,162	4.9%	6.2%	4.5%
2006	222.1	44,314	507.5	101,258	9.8%	9.3%	5.1%
2007	257.9	41,467	537.9	86,492	3.2%	11.1%	8.9%
2008	315.5	39,073	565.8	70,075	3.2%	12.3%	8.9%
2009	253.5	30,920	539.4	65,781	-5.2%	-4.7%	21.1%
2010	300.2	36,325	574.8	69,555	5.3%	0.9%	18.8%
2011	360.8	42,987	623.1	74,235	6.2%	0.9%	20.9%
2012	384.6	45,108	648.6	76,070	1.8%	0.7%	20.7%
2013	400.2	46,207	664.1	76,671	5.1%	1.1%	15.6%
2014	414.1	47,064	696.8	79,192	4.2%	2.3%	13.8%
2015	370.3	41,423	621.6	69,534	6.8%	4.1%	16.1%
2016	369.3	40,483	619.3	67,896	5.6%	1.6%	19.3%
2017	390.5	41,972	645.5	69,377	0.7%	2.0%	21.9%
2018	427.0	45,592	669.0	71,419	1.3%	3.1%	21.3%
2019	418.0	43,982	687.7	72,365	1.1%	-1.9%	26.8%
2020	349.5	37,649	662.3	71,347	-5.0%	-2.1%	41.1%
2021	415.2	43,439	722.8	75,624	4.4%	-0.1%	35.9%
2022	507.1	52,625	834.4	86,601	7.9%	4.8%	31.1%
2023e	504.2	51,909	894.3	92,074	3.4%	1.6%	30.9%
2024e	527.8	53,916	948.0	96,846	3.5%	2.1%	30.3%
2025f	550.2	55,781	1005.0	101,885	4.2%	2.0%	30.3%
2026f	577.8	58,139	1067.7	107,437	4.3%	2.0%	30.1%
2027f	609.5	60,895	1135.3	113,431	4.4%	2.0%	29.7%
2028f	645.3	64,038	1208.3	119,905	4.5%	2.0%	29.3%

External trade

With imports totaling $273.5 billion in 2012, UAE passed Saudi Arabia as the largest consumer market in the region. Exports totaled $314 billion, making UAE the second largest exporter in the region.
UAE and India are each other's main trading partners, with the latter having many of its citizens working and living in the former. The trade totals over $75 billion.
In 2021, the main export partners of the UAE were India, Japan, China , Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Singapore, the European Union, Oman, Hong Kong, and Thailand.
The main import partners in 2012 were China, the European Union, India, the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Mali, Japan, Turkey, and Vietnam.