The UAE continued its Arab World talent competitiveness dominance in 2023 and achieved an overall global ranking of 22nd in the IMD World Talent Ranking 2023 report.

The Emirates was ranked highly in a number of sub-indexes including student mobility inbound, zero income tax, foreign highly skilled personnel, international experience of senior management, readily availability of competent senior managers, high remuneration of senior management and others.

The UAE has been attracting professionals across various sectors, especially in the new-age technologies. These talented individuals are relocating to the country attracted by its quality of life, best healthcare system, high and tax-free salaries among others.

Faisal Al Bannai, secretary general, Advanced Technology Research Council, has said the UAE would “hunt for the best talent globally, and bring them here – even if that talent is on the Moon, we will get it. You think we’re looking for water on Mars, we’re looking for talent.”

The UAE was ranked higher than France, New Zealand, Spain, Malaysia, South Korea, the UK, China, Japan and many other countries. However, it slipped one place when compared to last year’s ranking.

Globally, Switzerland retained its top position and Luxembourg moved up to second place, while Iceland retained the third spot. Sweden experienced a considerable downfall – from second to 10th position – while Belgium (fourth) and Singapore (eighth) have both moved back into the top 10.

“This year’s rankings also show that as economies become more service-oriented – a transformation process that has also reached China (41st) and India (56th) – the physical presence of employees in the country of their employers is no longer needed. We observe the emergence of a new type of employee that has been educated in one country, lives in another, and works for a company located in a third country,” said professor Arturo Bris, director of IMD's World Competitiveness Center) which produced the report.

Among the regional countries, Bahrain ranked 27th followed by Kuwait (28), Qatar (30) and Saudi Arabia (36).

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