UAE continues to be the model nation for Arab youth

For the ninth year in a row, the UAE is considered a ‘model nation’ by young Arabs, who see it as the country they would most like to live in, even more than the US and Canada, according to the leading PR consultancy ASDA’A BCW’s 12th Annual Arab Youth Survey.

About 46 percent of all the young Arabs chose UAE when asked which country in the world they would like to live in. The UAE is followed by the US which 33 percent opted while 27 percent chose Canada. Another 27 percent chose UK and Germany was opted by 22 percent.

The UAE also topped the list of countries that the respondents want their own nation to match. About 52 percent of respondents from 17 Arab countries chose the Emirate in this question. The US ranks second with 30 percent, followed by Germany with 23 percent and Canada with 21 percent.

The top five reasons the respondents associate with the UAE are safety and security (44 percent), a wide range of work opportunities (36 percent), generous salary packages (32 percent), a growing economy (31 percent) and a good place to raise a family (25 percent).

Combating the pandemic

The UAE’s efforts in combating the COVID-19 pandemic made the nation admirable to young Emiratis with an overwhelming 98 percent affirming that they are ‘more proud’ to be a citizen of the country than before the pandemic. All Emirati respondents have said they agree with the government strategies to curb the virus outbreak.

An ally for Arab countries

Highlighting the strong prominence of the UAE across the Arab world, about 89 percent of Arab youth see the emirate as a supporter of their country and is also regarded as one among the top three emerging countries that have increased their influence in the Arab world, along with Saudi Arabia and the United States of America.

Arab Youth Survey

The survey held by ASDA’A BCW and global strategic research and analytics consultancy PSB, shows the opinions of young Arabs on a wide range of topics such as the anti-government protests that raged several parts of the region in the past year, gender equality, personal identity, employment, foreign relations and media consumption.

It is considered to be the largest of its kind and covers a major demographic of the Arab region. This year the survey included about 4,000 young Arabs between the age of 18 to 24 with equal ratio of male and female participants and was conducted in two parts. The first ‘Main Survey’ was held before the pandemic outbreak and the second phase, ‘COVID-19 Pulse Survey’ after the crisis.

“The unique model of the nation, celebrating social, religious and cultural pluralism, continues to gain the admiration of young Arabs, who see the UAE as the top nation in the world, over Western and Eastern counterparts, to live in and emulate. This is a powerful statement on the positivity and progressive outlook of the UAE leadership and people.”

With this survey, a clear vision about the attitudes of the over 200 million Arab youth is provided, which in turn would help both the public and private sector organizations to formulate data and analysis for decision-making and policy creation.