#Saudi #UAE #MENA #rankings - The UAE leads Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in national AI readiness according to the 2026 World Digital and AI Ranking from Swiss business school and research institution IMD. In the new ranking, which assesses 70 economies, the USA takes the top spot ahead of Singapore and the Netherlands. The top five MENA countries in the index are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. The Emirates dropped down six places compared to the 2025 ranking, while Saudi Arabia moved up two places.
SO WHAT? - The UAE ranks 15th of 70 economies with 91.13 points, the top score in the Middle East and North Africa, slightly down on last year’s score of 93.38. Saudi Arabia is ranked 20th with 86.55 points, with Qatar 30th and Bahrain 33rd. The Emirates ranking sits just behind Norway and ahead of Australia, the UK and Germany. Saudi Arabia places second globally for company awareness of AI cybersecurity risks and fourth for national AI strategy implementation. The ranking shows clearly that the Gulf’s AI policy and adoption strategies now show up in international comparisons.
KEY POINTS:
The 2026 edition of the World Digital and AI Ranking has been published by Swiss business school and research institution IMD. The ranking overs 70 economies using 88 criteria: 51 hard statistics and 37 Executive Opinion Survey measures. Countries are ranked on five factors: governance, technology and infrastructure, efficiency, workforce development and values.
The US ranks first, helped by its investment, innovation, research and commercial capacity. Singapore is second on 99.79 points, the Netherlands third on 97.08, Denmark fourth and Canada fifth. China is seventh and South Korea tenth.
Seven MENA economies appear in this year’s ranking: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan and Kuwait. All seven rank within the top 50.
The UAE scores 91.13 and ranks 15th globally, first in MENA, although down six places from 9th in the 2025 survey. The Emirates trails Norway by 0.01 points and the US leader (100.00) by 8.87. It finishes ahead of Australia (91.02), the UK (90.88) and Germany (89.95).
Saudi Arabia ranks 20th on 86.55, about 4.6 points behind the UAE, ranking below Japan (87.88) and ahead of France (85.78), Iceland, Estonia and Austria, which puts it second in the region.
Qatar is 30th on 82.31, just behind Belgium. Bahrain is 33rd on 80.60, ahead of Poland (80.41) and Italy (80.08). Oman is 36th on 79.89, ahead of Vietnam, the Czech Republic and Portugal.
Jordan ranks 40th on 76.77, ahead of Kazakhstan, Thailand and India. Kuwait is 49th, ahead of Greece, Hungary, Brazil and South Africa. Both complete a MENA group that places entirely in the upper two-thirds of the table.
Saudi Arabia ranks second globally for company awareness of AI-related cybersecurity risks and protection of sensitive data in corporate AI systems. It places fourth for national AI strategy implementation, corporate AI adoption and public access to AI technologies.
Saudi Arabia is fifth worldwide for AI adoption, and for three sub-indicators: public trust in AI, regulatory frameworks for AI-related issues and corporate investment in AI.
Saudi Arabia ranks seventh for AI skills, cities’ use of AI to improve service quality and company efforts to address bias in AI algorithms. It places eighth for AI readiness, ninth for private-sector AI investment and 11th for AI and capital investment.
Qatar ranks fourth globally in the trust sub-factor, which measures institutional credibility, corporate data protection and public confidence in AI systems. It is seventh for business practices and 17th in the efficiency factor.
In the AI Maturity Index, Nvidia keeps first place. Alphabet is second and Microsoft third, a swap from last year. SoftBank Group of Japan and Samsung Electronics of South Korea join the top five, replacing Meta Platforms and Amazon.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
Source: IMD
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