ISIDORA CIRIC (ABU DHABI)

Chief security officers say the UAE faces the world’s lowest risk of economic instability in 2026, a view that sets the country apart at a time when boardrooms elsewhere are concerned about recession and inflation.

According to the World Security Report 2025, published on Tuesday, chief security officers (CSOs) say the top global hazards for the year ahead are: economic instability at 44%, climate change at 33%, and disruption to energy supplies at 30%. War and political instability, along with civil unrest, round out the top five at 29% and 28%.

In the UAE, however, only 29% of security leaders surveyed believed that economic instability would pose a security-impacting hazard in the coming year, the lowest rate recorded in the entire study, and well below the regional average of 41% and the global figure of 44%.

Commissioned by Allied Universal and its international arm G4S, the study gathered insights from 2,352 CSOs across 31 countries, with combined revenue above $25 trillion, as well as 200 global institutional investors managing over $1 trillion in assets. Fifty-eight respondents were based in the UAE, and 232 across the Middle East.

These country-level figures are not listed in the published report and were shared with Aletihad by G4S representatives in a supplementary UAE fact sheet drawn from the same survey sample.

Investment in AI Security Outpaces Global Trend

Security leaders in the UAE reported some of the highest rates of adoption and prioritisation of AI tools in the world, pairing calmer expectations on the economy with a push to harden systems through technology.

According to the factsheet, 59% of UAE respondents said AI-powered intrusion detection and perimeter security systems would be most important to their operations over the next two years. Another 50% said the same about AI-driven threat detection and risk assessment. These are the highest rates in the Middle East and exceed both global (44%) and regional averages (46%).

In incident response and emergency management, where time matters most, autonomous AI was already in use by 26% of UAE respondents against a 23% regional average.

Internal risks also looked more contained than elsewhere in the region. While global security leaders continue to list industrial sabotage and espionage as most concerning internal risks, the UAE scored lowest in both categories among its neighbours. Only 21% of UAE respondents expected to face industrial espionage in the next year, compared to 27% regionally.

For sabotage, just 17% foresaw incidents, against a regional average of 25%.
Still, security budgets are on the rise. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of UAE respondents said they planned to increase their physical security spending in the year ahead, six points above the global average.

The top priorities for that funding are new security infrastructure and technologies, as well as process efficiency improvements. Both areas were cited by 52% of UAE respondents, five points above the global average for infrastructure, and 11 points higher for optimisation efforts.

The study’s investor responses linked security posture to market performance, with nearly two-thirds of global institutional investors expressing concern that a physical security incident could move the value of a listed company by as much as 32%. 
Boards are treating security as a driver of enterprise value rather than a background cost, which aligns with the UAE's model of heavier spending and faster adoption of automation.

Omar Dababneh, managing director of G4S in the UAE, said: “Building a secure, cohesive and globally competitive society are key pillars of the UAE Centennial 2071; its favourable and resilient business environment is highlighted by this year’s World Security Report.

“The country’s forward-looking approach to security also aligns closely with the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031, positioning it well to navigate future risks.”