United Arab Emirates
population: Official estimate (31 Dec 2024) · indicators as of 5 Sep 2026 · 11 metros tracked
🗺️ Geography11 metros
United Arab Emirates metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.
Select a metro for its rank and a link to its page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.
🏙️ 11 tracked metros
🗂️ Emirates
7 entries listed under United Arab Emirates. Select any to see its metros and footprint.
📋 At a glance
- Official language
- Arabic
- Government
- Federal monarchy
- Legislature
- Federal Supreme Council
- Constitution
- 1971, null amendment events since
- Demonym
- Emirati
- Time zone
- UTC+04:00
- Driving side
- Right
- Calling code
- +971
- Internet TLD
- .ae, .امارات
- ISO 3166
- AE
- Established
- 1971
- Highest point
- Jebel Jais (1,911 m (6,270 ft))
- National anthem
- Ishy Bilady
Facts via Wikidata.
🗣️ Languages of United Arab Emirates
Standard Arabic first; 2 languages share the country; 1 official.
| Language | Share | Status | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Arabic | 78% | Official | CLDR, country |
| English | 50% | None | CLDR, country |
| Malayalam | 7% | None | CLDR, country |
| Pashto | 2.9% | None | CLDR, country |
| Balochi | 2.3% | None | CLDR, country |
| Western Farsi | 1.9% | None | CLDR, country |
Shares count first and second language, so they overlap and can add past 100%.
- English reach
- 50%
- Tier 3 country
- Effective languages
- 1.2
- Official-language gap
- 22%
- Standard Arabic is spoken by 78%
United Arab Emirates on the languages board · Language power
📰 In the news6 stories
Semafor · 20 Oct 2026
Fujairah's growing role in the UAE's strategy to avoid HormuzFujairah has become a waystation for oil and metals as Gulf states build routes around the Strait of Hormuz.
The Straits Times · 3 Oct 2026
Man City verdict puts UK-UAE diplomatic relations under strainBloomberg-reported warnings from UAE officials that a severe City punishment could chill investment in Britain.
The Guardian · 2 Oct 2026
'Hero' pilot, plumber and dentist among those who saved flydubai flight to IsraelPassengers forced the cockpit, subdued the attacker and treated the injured captain before the aircraft landed in Saudi Arabia.
Hindustan Times · 21 Sept 2026
UAE cancels visas of 4,800 Bangladesh nationals, no reason givenMany workers learned their visas were canceled only after traveling home on leave, cutting them off from jobs and family.
Semafor · 29 Aug 2026
Sheikh backs Trump crypto bankThe UAE's national security adviser is now a major shareholder in the Trump family's crypto bank, where a sheikh-led bloc holds 49% to the family's 38%.
The New York Times · 19 Aug 2026
"Saudi Arabia and UAE look to stockpile oil in Asia"Further reading from the day's section on Iran, the Strait of Hormuz and the price of waiting.
💹 Economy and developmentHigh income
Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.
Alliances & Organisations4 full memberships
Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer
🏛️ Leadership History7 leaders · click to expand
marks a monarch.
United Arab Emirates
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
The power line is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.
⚔️ Wars and conflicts3 interstate wars · click to expand
| Conflict | Years | Against | Combat deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Libyan civil war (2014–2020) | 2014–2020 | Libya House of Representatives (Tobruk-based) | — |
| Yemeni civil war (2014–present)● | 2014–present | Al-Qaeda and allies,AQAP,Ansar al-Sharia,Council of Scholars of Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama'ah,Hadhrami Domestic council,Dhi Na'im tribe,Al-Hamiqan tribe,Islamic State,Yemen Province | — |
| 2011 military intervention in Libya | 2011 | Libya | 72–403 |
Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.”
👥 Population over time
Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.
👥 To 2100
The UN’s probabilistic projection for United Arab Emirates: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.
What drives it
Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.
Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.
💰 Billionaires8 · $43.2B combined · click to expand
Source: Forbes real-time billionaires (via the rtb-api project). Net worth as of the latest monthly snapshot.
🏆 National Teams
United Arab Emirates on the international stage. Select a card for the full record.
🏟️ League Hubs
Domestic league portals that operate in United Arab Emirates: 2 leagues.