AMEINAH ALZEYOUDI (ABU DHABI)
The UAE has recorded the largest increase in global connectedness of any country over the past two decades, and ranked 7th overall in the latest edition of DHL's Global Connectedness Report.
The DHL Global Connectedness Report 2026, published on Tuesday, measures how deeply and widely countries are integrated with the global economy through cross-border flows.
Covering 180 countries, it draws on more than 9 million data points tracking international interactions across trade, capital, information and people pillars.
According to the report, the UAE achieved the largest long-term gains worldwide since 2001, with its overall score rising by 13 points during the period.
The authors attributed the progress to a long-term development strategy that strengthened the country's role as an international hub for commerce, travel and finance.
"The United Arab Emirates - posting the largest increase since 2001- substantially increased its global connectedness through a multi-faceted development strategy spanning areas such as international shipping, air connections, tourism, and finance, supported by the development of free zones and extensive use of foreign labour and capital," the report said.
In the overall rankings, the UAE placed 7th globally with a score of 68, making it the only country from the Gulf and the broader MENA region to reach the top 10. Singapore took the top position, followed by Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Ireland and Switzerland in the top five.
The country has also strengthened its standing compared with earlier editions of the index. Since 2019, the UAE has climbed three places in the overall ranking and added 2.3 points to its score, with upward gains spreading across several individual pillars and indicators.
The index evaluates global connectedness indicators through two dimensions. Depth measures the scale of international flows compared with domestic economic activity, while breadth measures how widely those flows are distributed across partner countries around the world.
On the depth dimension, the UAE ranks 5th globally, again the only country from the MENA region and the Gulf to place in the top 10. The country has improved its depth ranking by five places compared with 2019, while its depth score increased by 5.9 points. Its breadth position stands at 33rd, with a score of 59.9.
The Trade pillar, which measures cross-border flows of goods and services relative to the size of the economy, remains the UAE's strongest area of global integration. Here, the country ranks 2nd globally, improving its 2019 position by three places and increasing its score by 3.6 points.
Within the Trade pillar indicators, the UAE ranks 2nd worldwide for outward goods trade relative to GDP, and 5th for inward goods trade relative to GDP.
The Capital pillar, which tracks cross-border investment such as FDIs and mergers and acquisitions, placed the UAE 12th globally - a jump of six places and a 0.9-point increase compared with 2019.
Under this pillar, the country ranked 2nd for overseas greenfield investment relative to GDP, 11th for cross-border mergers and acquisitions, 14th for foreign direct investment flows, and 22nd for foreign direct investment stock.
Another strong showing came under the People pillar, which measures international mobility through tourism, migration and international students. Here, the UAE's position improved from 9th in 2019 to 8th globally in the latest edition.
The report also maps how countries are connected through international flows with their main partners.
Across the partner-country analysis, the UAE appears among the top ten sources of international flows for 50 of the 180 countries included in the index. It ranks as the largest partner for international flows with Oman and Qatar, the second-largest with countries including India, Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon and Armenia, and the fifth-largest for Hungary.
For the UAE, India accounts for the largest share at 16%, followed by the United States at 8%, the United Kingdom and China at 7% each, and Saudi Arabia at 4%.