UAE Tops Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for Fifth Straight Year

UAE Tops Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for Fifth Straight Year

The report highlights the UAE's performance across entrepreneurship, finance, education and business support.

The United Arab Emirates has ranked first in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2025–2026 report for the fifth consecutive year, maintaining its position as the leading environment for entrepreneurship among high-income economies.

According to the report, the UAE ranked first across eight indicators, including physical infrastructure, government support and policy, entrepreneurial programmes, research and development transfers, market dynamics, regulatory ease and entrepreneurial education.

The country also ranked second globally for entrepreneurial finance and ease of access to funding, and was one of only four economies to meet or exceed sufficiency across all entrepreneurial framework conditions. The report further placed the UAE among the world's top five for startups' access to international markets, citing its infrastructure and logistics network.

The report recorded a National Entrepreneurial Context Index score of 7.0 in 2025, while more than one in five adults were engaged in entrepreneurial activity. Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity stood at 19.2%, rising to 19.6% among Emiratis and 22.4% among residents.

The UAE was also among six countries where entrepreneurs unanimously identified artificial intelligence as a critical priority over the next three years. It received an "Excellent" rating in both the Sustainability Priorities Index and the AI Awareness Index, alongside Taiwan, Norway and Sweden.

Published annually, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor is one of the world's leading studies of entrepreneurship. The 2025–2026 edition covers 53 economies representing around 43% of the global population and 57% of global GDP, drawing on responses from more than 160,000 adults and over 2,000 national experts.