• UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar rank among top five model nations for the first time in nine years

Arab News

DUBAI: For the 12th consecutive year, the UAE has been voted the country where most young Arabs would want to live, Emirates News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The Arab Youth survey found Arabs aged 18 to 24 also named the UAE as the country they would most want their own nations to emulate.

The annual survey, conducted by communications consultancy ASDA’A BCW, is the largest study of its kind of the Arab world’s largest demographic, with over 200 million youth.

Roughly one in four Arab youth (24 percent) named the UAE as the country they would most like to live in, followed by the US (19 percent), Canada (19 percent), Qatar (14 percent) and the UK (13 percent). For the first time in eight years, Qatar was ranked among the top five model countries.

“The rise of Qatar to be amongst the top-five nations to live in and to emulate is particularly noteworthy,” said ASDA’A BCW’s founder, Sunil John.

“This reflects the hugely positive impact of the FIFA World Cup 2022 last November and December; without question, the tournament had a galvanizing effect on both the regional economy and Arab pride,” John explained.

Moreover, 22 percent of young Arabs named the UAE as the country they want their own to emulate, ahead of the US (19 percent), Canada (16 percent), Qatar (15 percent) and Saudi Arabia and the UK in joint fifth place (11 percent).  It is also the first time Saudi Arabia has been voted as a model country since 2017.

A number of factors contribute to the UAE’s preferred-nation status. According to Arab youth in the 18 states polled this year, the country’s top-five attributes are its safety and security (41 percent), growing economy (28 percent), effective and “visionary” leadership (24 percent), clean environment (22 percent), and ease of starting a business (20 percent).

The UAE was also commonly hailed as an ideal place to raise a family (19 percent), for its abundant career prospects (17 percent), school excellence (16 percent), strong cultural identity and heritage (16 percent), and generous salaries (13 percent).

John added: “The UAE continues to be a lodestar for Arab youth seeking jobs, opportunity and the freedom to realise their full potential. The uncertainty elsewhere in the global economy only serves to underline the nation’s winning attributes and the sound vision of its leadership.

“Today, GCC economies are increasingly investing in world-class infrastructure as they become dynamic hubs for trade, finance, tourism, education and healthcare,” John said. “Young Arabs see these countries as model nations because they appreciate the opportunities for jobs and prosperity being created and the potential to realise a better, more fulfilling life for themselves.”