Dubai, UAE – The UAE has maintained its global leadership in the entrepreneurship environment, ranking first globally for the fifth year in a row. In the Global Entrepreneurship Observatory’s 2025-2026 report, it outperforms many advanced economies, confirming its position as the best environment for starting and doing new businesses globally.
The UAE ranked first among high-income economies in eight indicators in the report. It included physical infrastructure, government policies in terms of support and convenience, and government policies related to taxes and bureaucracy. Government entrepreneurship programs, research and development transfer. Ease of entry in terms of market dynamics, ease of entry in terms of burdens and regulations, and entrepreneurial education.
Second place in entrepreneurial finance
In addition, the country ranked second globally in the “Entrepreneurial Finance” and “Ease of Access to Entrepreneurial Finance” indicators. The country is also among only four countries that have succeeded in achieving or exceeding the “adequacy” level in all conditions of the index’s entrepreneurship framework.
According to the report, the UAE recorded advanced performance at the global level in the quality of the entrepreneurial environment, achieving 7.0 points in the National Context Index for Entrepreneurship (NECI) for the year 2025, which monitors the climate supporting entrepreneurship in each country.
The report indicated that the UAE was among only six countries whose entrepreneurs unanimously agreed on the utmost importance of artificial intelligence in the next three years. In this context, the UAE, along with three other countries, Taiwan, Norway and Sweden, received an “excellent” rating in both the “Sustainability Priorities” and “Artificial Intelligence Awareness” indicators. The UAE also achieved outstanding performance in the “International Access” index. It was ranked among the top five countries in the report in terms of the ability of its startups to access foreign markets.
The report confirms that the UAE has succeeded in creating an entrepreneurial environment characterized by continuity and growth. The number of adults starting new businesses exceeds one in five adults (more than 20%). The percentage of early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) also recorded high levels, reaching 19.2%.
An attractive environment for talent
The report highlighted the attractiveness of the UAE environment for talent, as the percentage of entrepreneurial activity recorded 19.6% among citizens and 22.4% among residents. The report also showed that the UAE provided an integrated entrepreneurial environment that contributed to promoting women’s entrepreneurship.
In the same context, the report showed that more than half of entrepreneurs believe that family traditions represent an important motivation for establishing and growing their businesses. The country also achieved significant progress in the entrepreneurship education index in schools, ranking among the top five countries. The report indicated that entrepreneurship in the UAE is based on an advanced and flexible financing environment. It provides entrepreneurs with ample opportunities to obtain the capital necessary to launch and expand their projects.
The Global Entrepreneurship Observatory report is one of the world’s leading references for measuring and analyzing entrepreneurial activity. It relies on a huge database of more than two million cumulative interviews since its establishment. In its current version, it is based on data from 53 economies, representing about 43% of the world’s population and 57% of global GDP. The report includes more than 160,000 participants in the adult population survey, more than 2,000 national experts, and 370 technical experts and researchers.
