The UAE has emerged as the Middle East’s strongest performer in a new global index measuring how well people are building artificial intelligence (AI) skills alongside the human skills needed to use them, ranking sixth out of 98 countries.
Regional performance varied widely, according to Coursera and Udemy’s Global Skills Report 2026.
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Middle Eastern and North African nations appear in every tier of the AI-Human Skills Synergy Index, from the UAE at sixth to Iraq at 86th.
Only Germany, France, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong ranked higher than the UAE. It sits ahead of the Netherlands (7), the US (8), Singapore (10), Canada (11) and the UK (19).
Regional rankings
Israel placed 18th and Saudi Arabia 25th, the last place in the “leading” tier. Egypt (43rd), Qatar (46th), Bahrain (48th) and Turkey (41st) fall in the “competitive” tier. Oman (66th), Kuwait (67th), Jordan (70th) and Lebanon (72nd) are classed as “emerging”. Yemen (82nd) and Iraq (86th) are in the “lagging” group.
Among major source countries for UAE expatriate workers, India ranked 40th, Pakistan 47th and Bangladesh 50th, all in the competitive tier. The Philippines placed 63rd.
How the index works
Coursera describes the index as the first of its kind. It combines Coursera learner behaviour (60 per cent), covering proficiency, the range of skills studied and overlap between AI and human skills learning, with Oxford Insights’ Government AI Readiness Index 2025 (40 per cent). The readiness measure looks at government capacity, policy infrastructure and technology readiness.
The UAE and Singapore show high population-level generative AI adoption, according to Stanford’s 2026 AI Index. In such countries, it adds, a strong score may indicate learner momentum alongside an environment that supports applying those skills.
The report lists the UAE among jurisdictions, with Australia and Singapore, that emphasise guidance, safeguards and assurance tools in AI governance. Across much of Africa and the Middle East, it says, non-binding strategies and frameworks remain the main governance mechanisms.
Skills gap widens
The report warns that AI deployment is outpacing the skills people need to use it. Nearly three in four organisations have deployed or are piloting AI, yet only 18 per cent say most of their workforce took part in AI reskilling or upskilling in the past year.
IDC predicts AI will generate more than $22.5 trillion in cumulative global economic value by 2031, but PwC finds 74 per cent of that value is captured by just 20 per cent of organisations. Research by Coursera and AWS found 88 per cent of leaders said planned AI investments would fail without greater investment in training.
Anthony Salcito, Coursera’s senior vice-president and president of enterprise, said the leaders moving fastest with AI treat skills training as “equally important as investments in technology.”
Learners turn to critical thinking
Globally, AI enrolments rose 67 per cent year on year and generative AI enrolments 132 per cent. Learners on Coursera and Udemy now enrol in generative AI content at more than 45 per minute, up from 25 per minute in 2025.
Critical thinking enrolments rose 107 per cent and complex problem-solving 126 per cent. Enrolments in AI micro-credentials grew 122 per cent. In Coursera’s Micro-Credentials Impact Report 2026, 95 per cent of surveyed employers said micro-credentials are a key differentiator between candidates.
The data compares April 2025 to March 2026 with the previous 12 months. Coursera cautions that its figures reflect platform learners rather than whole populations, and do not show workplace outcomes.
Source: Khaleej Times