HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, has approved the National Programme for Developing the Statistics System, a strategic initiative to strengthen the quality of the UAE’s official economic statistics and support data-driven policymaking.
The program establishes 2024 as the unified base year for national accounts and reconstructs the UAE’s GDP time series for 2010–2026, providing a more accurate picture of the economy’s size, diversity and growth while improving the reliability and international comparability of official statistics. The initiative is expected to strengthen economic decision-making, public policy and future planning, while boosting investor confidence and reinforcing the UAE’s position as a leading global economy.
The program responds to structural changes in the national economy, including rapid growth in non-oil sectors, services, the digital economy, technology and investment, alongside the expanded use of administrative data, including corporate tax and value-added tax records. The enhanced data coverage is expected to improve the accuracy of economic measurement and better reflect the country’s economic performance.
The initiative is based on an integrated national framework to update and harmonize national accounts in line with the UN System of National Accounts and international statistical standards. It includes updating the base year, expanding data sources and strengthening the integration of administrative records to produce more accurate, transparent and consistent economic indicators. The program also establishes a regular framework for updating the base year in line with international statistical best practices.
In addition, it introduces a unified national methodology for reviewing GDP data, supporting the long-term development of the UAE’s statistics system and ensuring it keeps pace with economic transformation. Future updates will follow internationally recognized statistical methodologies and be based on the availability and readiness of national data to maintain the quality and global comparability of official statistics.
The program includes a comprehensive review of national accounts, a globally recognized practice adopted by advanced statistical systems to reflect evolving economies and improved data sources. The review aims to improve GDP measurement by incorporating updated statistical methodologies and broader data sources while reflecting the UAE’s continued economic growth.
The program will be implemented through a national partnership led by the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre, in coordination with local statistics centers across the emirates and federal data providers under the national statistics system.
The partnership includes the Central Bank of the UAE, the Ministry of Finance, the Federal Tax Authority, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization, the Emirates Investment Authority, Etihad Water and Electricity Company and other national entities. The collaboration will support the development of a comprehensive national economic database and a more accurate GDP time series.
The program serves as the UAE’s strategic framework for modernizing the national statistics system through legislative, institutional and technical initiatives, including a comprehensive GDP review, a national statistics strategy, supporting policies, a national statistical data platform, a statistical leadership development program and the UAE Principles for Official Statistics document.
