UAE is among the world’s top 10 most connected countries

The UAE has surged ahead in DHL’s Global Connectedness Report to occupy the No. 8 spot among the world’s top 10 most globalised countries. It has also registered the maximum increase in performance since 2001, securing the top spot for rising connectedness among 181 countries analysed. This demonstrates a heightened pace of physical and digital connectivity aimed at strengthening global supply chains and facilitating international trade.

According to the report, the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region remains well-connected to much of the rest of the world, not only through trade but also investment, immigration, and tourism. Even as Europe leads on trade and people flows, and North America leads on capital and information flows, Mena ranks second on trade, reflecting the importance of the oil trade, the rising prominence of the Gulf countries in trade networks more generally, and the close ties many North African countries have to Europe.

DHL’s Global Connectedness Report draws on nearly nine million data points and provides a unique and comprehensive picture of how goods and services, capital, information, and people are moving around the world. This year, for the first time, the report used a methodology that measures the world’s depth of globalisation on a scale from zero per cent (nothing crosses national borders at all) to 100 per cent (a “frictionless” world where borders and distance have ceased to matter). It currently stands at 25 per cent, which means a fully globalised world is still far from a reality.

The findings also suggest that despite global economic headwinds and political turmoil, global flows have proven highly resilient, growing faster than domestic activity and stretching out across greater distances. As such, there continue to be many avenues for countries to participate in international business. The Middle East region, including the UAE, has seized this opportunity and accelerated its digital connectedness to facilitate international trade and flows of capital, information, and talent.

The report demonstrates that there is not – at least yet – a clear global shift underway from globalisation to regionalisation. In fact, most international flows are taking place over stable or even longer distances, with a declining share happening inside major geographic regions. In the realm of trade, only North America shows a clear shift to more regionalised trade patterns. In the UAE and wider MEA region too, new trade connections are progressing and evolving very quickly, playing a key role in contributing to and accelerating overall globalisation.