The UAE’s real GDP was AED 1.9 trillion (about USD 517 billion) in 2025, up 6.2% from 2024, according to the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC). This was the fastest growth the country had recorded since 2022.
Non-oil GDP grew faster than the total. It rose 6.8% to AED 1.5 trillion (about USD 408 billion).
Measured at current prices instead, the IMF puts UAE GDP at USD 571.64 billion in 2025, or AED 2,099 billion. The two numbers are both correct. They measure different things, and the next few sections explain the difference.
The UAE is the second largest economy in the Arab world after Saudi Arabia, and the 31st largest in the world out of the 193 economies the IMF covers.
UAE GDP over the years
The table below shows GDP at current prices. This is the figure used for international comparisons.
| Year | GDP | GDP (USD) | Real GDP growth |
| 2010 | AED 1,130.16 billion | $307.74 billion | 1.6% |
| 2011 | AED 1,354.72 billion | $368.88 billion | 6.7% |
| 2012 | AED 1,442.53 billion | $392.79 billion | 4.7% |
| 2013 | AED 1,504.38 billion | $409.63 billion | 4.9% |
| 2014 | AED 1,560.58 billion | $424.94 billion | 4.6% |
| 2015 | AED 1,402.80 billion | $381.97 billion | 7.1% |
| 2016 | AED 1,401.86 billion | $381.72 billion | 5.7% |
| 2017 | AED 1,481.36 billion | $403.37 billion | -1.1% |
| 2018 | AED 1,617.96 billion | $440.56 billion | 1.5% |
| 2019 | AED 1,593.59 billion | $433.93 billion | 1.3% |
| 2020 | AED 1,311.68 billion | $357.16 billion | -8.7% |
| 2021 | AED 1,551.42 billion | $422.44 billion | 4.6% |
| 2022 | AED 1,878.13 billion | $511.40 billion | 7.5% |
| 2023 | AED 1,919.33 billion | $522.62 billion | 4.3% |
| 2024 | AED 2,028.41 billion | $552.32 billion | 4.0% |
| 2025 | AED 2,099.36 billion | $571.64 billion | 5.8% |
Two moments stand out. GDP fell 8.7% in 2020 during the pandemic, the sharpest drop in the series. It then rose 7.5% in 2022 as oil prices and output both climbed.
GDP at current prices crossed AED 2 trillion for the first time in 2024.
Source: World Bank for GDP levels, IMF World Economic Outlook.
Note: The 2025 level is an IMF estimate.
Real GDP and nominal GDP are not the same number
Real GDP strips out price changes. Nominal GDP does not. FCSC publishes both, and the headline growth rate the UAE announces each year is the real one.
For 2023, the gap was large. FCSC reported real GDP of AED 1.68 trillion and nominal GDP of AED 1.88 trillion for the same year.
If you are comparing the UAE against other countries by economic size, use nominal GDP. If you are tracking whether the economy actually produced more, use real GDP.
What the UAE’s statistics office announced each year
| Year | Real GDP (AED trillion) | Real growth | Non-oil GDP (AED trillion) | Non-oil share |
| 2021 | AED 1.489 trillion | 3.8% | NA | 72.3% |
| 2022 | AED 1.62 trillion | 7.9% | NA | Not stated |
| 2023 | AED 1.68 trillion | 3.6% | AED 1.25 trillion | 74.3% |
| 2024 | AED 1.776 trillion | 4.0% | AED 1.342 trillion | 75.5% |
| 2025 | AED 1.9 trillion | 6.2% | AED 1.5 trillion | Close to 79% |
These are the figures FCSC published in its own annual releases.
Note: Each row is what FCSC said at the time of that year’s release. FCSC revises earlier years when it publishes a new one, so the rows come from different data vintages. The 2023 figure of AED 1.68 trillion, for example, was later revised up to AED 1.708 trillion.
Source: FCSC annual GDP releases.
The 2024 growth rate has already been restated from 4.0% to 6.6%
The UAE’s 2024 real GDP growth was first reported as 4.0%. It now stands at 6.6% in the latest official data. That is a revision of 2.6 percentage points in a single year.
The change appears between two editions of the Central Bank of the UAE’s Quarterly Economic Review, both of which take their UAE history directly from FCSC.
| Year | CBUAE, March 2026 edition | CBUAE, June 2026 edition | IMF, April 2026 |
| 2023 | 4.3% | 4.3% | 4.3% |
| 2024 | 4.0% | 6.6% | 4.0% |
| 2025 | 5.6% (estimate) | 6.2% (actual) | 5.8% (estimate) |
Non-oil growth for 2024 was restated at the same time, from 5.0% to 8.6%.
On 23 July 2026, the UAE approved a National Programme for Developing the Statistics System. It sets 2024 as the single base year for national accounts and rebuilds the entire GDP series from 2010 to 2026. FCSC says the review draws on new administrative sources, including corporate tax and VAT records, which cover economic activity more completely than earlier methods.
For anyone publishing UAE GDP figures (like in this report), the practical rule is to state the source and the date of the release tht has been used.
Source: CBUAE Quarterly Economic Review, IMF World Economic Outlook.
Non-oil sectors made up close to 79% of UAE GDP in 2025
Non-oil activities accounted for close to 79% of UAE GDP in 2025, up from 75.5% in 2024. Saeed Al Hajeri, UAE Minister of State, gave this figure in July 2026. It matches the FCSC data, which shows non-oil GDP of AED 1.5 trillion out of a total of AED 1.9 trillion.
The share has risen in almost every year of the past decade.
| Period | Non-oil share of real GDP |
| 2020 | 71.3% |
| 2021 | 72.3% |
| 2023 | 74.3% |
| 2024 | 75.5% |
| 2025 | 79% |
In cash terms, non-oil GDP grew from AED 1.25 trillion in 2023 to AED 1.342 trillion in 2024 and AED 1.5 trillion in 2025.
Oil-related activity contributed AED 434 billion in 2024. It still grew, by 4.3% in 2025, helped by higher OPEC+ quotas. Oil production averaged 3.12 million barrels per day across 2025, 6.9% more than in 2024.
So the falling oil share is not a story of oil shrinking. It is a story of the rest of the economy growing faster.
The government target is 80%. That is now within about one percentage point.
Source: FCSC releases.
Trade, finance and construction are the biggest parts of the non-oil economy
Wholesale and retail trade was the largest single part of UAE non-oil GDP in 2025, at 16.9%. Financial and insurance activities came second at 13.2%, followed by construction at 12.9% and manufacturing at 12.8%.
Construction was the fastest-growing of the large sectors, at 11.1%.
| Sector | Share of non-oil GDP, 2025 | Growth in 2025 | Contribution to non-oil growth |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 16.9% | 6.9% | 1.2 points |
| Financial and insurance activities | 13.2% | 10.4% | 1.3 points |
| Construction | 12.9% | 11.1% | 1.4 points |
| Manufacturing | 12.8% | 3.5% | 0.5 points |
| Real estate activities | 7.8% (2024 share) | 7.9% | 0.6 points |
| Transportation and storage | 7.0% (2024 share) | 7.8% | 0.6 points |
| All other sectors | 29.9% (2024 share) | 4.5% | 1.3 points |
Construction added the most growth of any single sector, even though it is only the third largest. It combined a big share with double-digit growth.
Manufacturing did the opposite. It is one of the four largest sectors but grew only 3.5%, so it added just 0.5 points.
Two other figures give useful context for the trade sector. Non-oil foreign trade in goods rose 27.4% in 2025 to AED 3,568 billion. Non-oil exports alone rose 47.8% to AED 801.1 billion, driven mainly by gold, jewellery and aluminium.
Source: FCSC release and CBUAE Quarterly Economic Review.
Note: We calculated contributions are calculated keeping 2024 sector shares as base weights, which is why the last three rows show 2024 shares.
UAE GDP per capita was about USD 50,232 in 2025
GDP per capita in the UAE was USD 50,232 in 2025, according to IMF figures. That places the UAE 25th in the world out of 193 economies, just behind Canada and Andorra and ahead of Malta and France.
| Year | GDP per capita (USD) |
| 2020 | $38,449 |
| 2021 | $42,840 |
| 2022 | $49,704 |
| 2023 | $48,941 |
| 2024 | $48,906 |
| 2025 | $50,232 |
Note: The above table is based on IMF reports. Explanation below.
Per capita GDP has been broadly flat since 2022 even though total GDP kept rising. The reason is population. The UAE’s population reached 11,294,243 at the end of 2024, a rise of 615,687 people or 5.7% in one year. When population grows at close to the rate of the economy, per capita income moves very little.
The World Bank reports UAE GDP per capita in 2024 as USD 50,274, while the IMF reports USD 48,906 for the same year. Neither is wrong. The IMF uses the FCSC population of 11.29 million. The World Bank uses a lower figure of about 10.99 million. Dividing the same GDP by different populations gives different answers.
On a purchasing power parity basis, the numbers look different again. UAE GDP per capita was USD 83,343 in PPP terms in 2025, and total PPP GDP was USD 948.5 billion. The IMF expects PPP GDP to pass USD 1 trillion in 2026.
Source: IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026.
Official forecasts for 2026 range from 1.7% to 3.1%
The Central Bank of the UAE forecasts real GDP growth of 1.7% in 2026 and 9.8% in 2027. The IMF forecasts 3.1% in 2026 and 5.3% in 2027. The gap between them is wide, and it is worth understanding why.
| Forecast | 2026 | 2027 |
| CBUAE, overall GDP | 1.7% | 9.8% |
| CBUAE, hydrocarbon GDP | 0.8% | 25.7% |
| CBUAE, non-hydrocarbon GDP | 1.9% | 4.5% |
| IMF, overall GDP | 3.1% | 5.3% |
CBUAE cut its 2026 forecast sharply. In March 2026 it expected 5.6%. By June 2026 it had moved to 1.7%.
The reason was disruption to regional shipping routes. UAE oil production fell 34.3% year on year in March 2026 and 30.4% in April 2026. Over the first four months of 2026, production averaged 2.68 million barrels per day, 8.0% below the same period a year earlier.
CBUAE describes the effect as temporary. Its 2027 forecast of 9.8% assumes production normalises and rises towards the UAE’s target capacity of around 5 million barrels per day.
Private-sector activity has held up better than trade. The UAE Purchasing Managers’ Index was 52.1 in April 2026, down from 52.9 in March but still above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction.
Government support measures announced include a CBUAE Financial Institution Resilience Package, a Dubai business support package of AED 2.5 billion, and a Dubai three-year budget of AED 272 billion focused on infrastructure.
Source: CBUAE Quarterly Economic Review and IMF World Economic Outlook.
The national target is AED 3 trillion
The UAE aims to raise GDP to AED 3 trillion under the “We the UAE 2031” vision. Ministers have repeated this target at every GDP release since 2023.
Real GDP stood at AED 1.9 trillion in 2025. Reaching AED 3 trillion from there requires growth of about 58% over the period.
On IMF projections, GDP at current prices reaches USD 621.55 billion in 2026, USD 648.67 billion in 2027, and USD 770.22 billion in 2030. At the fixed peg, the 2030 figure equals about AED 2,829 billion.
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