Country profile · Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan · High income
United Arab Emirates
Every figure below carries its global rank and its history — and a plain line on what the number means. Figures: World Bank, World Development Indicators (open data), retrieved 2026-07-27.
At a glance
Latest available year per indicator
GDP · 2024
$552.3 bn
30th largest of 214
The size of the economy — everything produced in a year. The headline number every other figure argues with.
GDP growth · 2024
4.0%
80th fastest-growing of 214
How fast output is expanding, inflation-adjusted. Growth without jobs or wages is where the story usually hides.
GDP per capita · 2024
$50,274
32nd highest of 214
Output per person — the rough proxy for average living standards, and an average that hides a lot.
Inflation (CPI) · 2025
1.3%
149th highest of 193
How fast consumer prices rise. What it understates for poorer households is half the story.
Unemployment · 2025
2.2%
169th highest of 187
The share of the labour force seeking work without finding it — and it counts precarious work as 'employed'.
Population · 2025
11.5 mn
85th largest of 217
The denominator of everything per-capita.
Exports · 2023
106.8%
8th highest of 193
How much of the economy is sold to the world — openness, measured on the way out.
Imports · 2023
92.2%
15th highest of 193
How much of demand is met from abroad — openness, measured on the way in.
FDI, net inflows · 2024
8.3%
26th highest of 202
Long-term foreign investment into real assets — a confidence signal that is hard to fake and slow to reverse.
Total reserves · 2025
$292.3 bn
15th largest of 179
The central bank's war chest for defending the currency and paying for imports.
Current account · 2024
14.5%
15th highest of 200
The broadest external balance — trade plus income and remittances. Persistent deficits must be financed.
Government debt · 2013
1.8%
109th highest of 109
What the state owes relative to the economy carrying it. Reported patchily — gaps here are common.
Exchange rate · 2025
3.7
129th highest of 213
How many units of local currency a dollar buys — a running vote of confidence.
Gini index · 2018
26.4
162nd most unequal of 171
Inequality in one number: 0 is perfect equality, 100 is one person holding everything. Surveyed rarely.
Life expectancy · 2024
83.1
21st highest of 217
The single most honest summary of whether an economy serves its people.
Extreme poverty · 2018
0.0%
157th highest of 171
The share of people living below the international extreme-poverty line — the floor beneath every other economic statistic.
What these indicators can — and cannot — tell you: Economics, Explained
The long view
1990 – latest
Put United Arab Emirates next to any other economy — open the comparison desk — or see where it sits on the world heat map.