United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates: sluggish, near-stagnant growth, 1980–2024

Built substantially on Abu Dhabi and Dubai's oil wealth, the UAE diversified early into trade, tourism, aviation, and finance, giving it a broader non-oil growth base than most other Gulf economies. Between 1980 and 2024, United Arab Emirates's GDP per capita grew from $42,925 to $50,274 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 0.4% — sluggish, near-stagnant growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 3.7% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 6.4 points, reflecting considerable volatility and periodic crises. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 0.5% to 0.8% of GDP (a notable increase), while services rose from 35.2% to 54.9% of GDP, underscoring a shift toward a services-driven economy. On human development, life expectancy rose from 68.2 to 83.1 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 53.2% to 63.7%, while the urban population share grew from 81.1% to 86.0%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions fell from 40.50 to 18.26 tonnes CO2e per person; income inequality (Gini index) narrowed from 32.5 to 26.4; the poverty headcount ratio increased from 0.0% to 0.0%.