Why the world's wealthiest moving to the UAE should matter to all its residents

Dubai’s Palm Islands. It is tempting to read the 'great wealth migration' to the UAE as a tale of private jets and lower taxes. That would miss the point. Getty Images

If you could live anywhere, where would you go? For a record number of entrepreneurs, investors and builders, the answer is increasingly the UAE.

Recent estimates point to a striking global shift: this year, about 142,000 millionaires are expected to relocate worldwide – about 16 per cent more than last year. The headline within the headline is the UAE. With a net gain of roughly 9,800 high-net-worth individuals, the country is projected to top the global league tables, ahead of traditional favourites like the US, Canada, Singapore and others. That is not just a statistic; it is a signal – an index of confidence.

Put another way, an estimated $63 billion in new, investable wealth is choosing to plant a flag in the UAE, while traditional powerhouses such as the UK face a historic outflow.

It is tempting to read this as a tale of private jets and lower taxes. That would miss the point. The movers are not looking for a hideaway; they are looking for a launchpad. They are bringing capital, yes – but also operating experience, global networks and an appetite for the next thing. They vote with their feet for places that feel built for the future: connected, safe and pro-enterprise in a way that is predictable rather than performative.

This “great wealth migration” carries a practical, local meaning. Capital inflows do not sit idle: they back funds, endow venture studios and capitalise new companies. Boardrooms gain directors with cross-border judgment. Mentorship proliferates. Job creation rises where capital meets operating know-how – especially in services, technology, creative industries, advanced logistics and finance. Knowledge diffuses: hiring managers learn new standards, young founders glean shortcuts and local firms find partners who can open doors well beyond the region. For the UAE’s diversification story, this is the strongest endorsement imaginable because it is voluntary and market-revealed.

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There is also a quieter layer to this migration: a cultural vote. People with options are choosing a society that blends stability and tolerance, where world-class infrastructure sits next to a service culture that works, and where public policy signals are clear. In an era in which many economies wrestle with political volatility, bureaucratic drag or policy whiplash, the UAE’s consistency is not just comfortable – it is investable.

So what does this mean for the person reading this – an employee, a founder, a policymaker, a manager? It means the opportunity is not abstract. It will show up in your inbox, your hiring pipeline, your board invites, your classroom projects, your neighbourhood. It will arrive in the form of a new fund deciding where to place a regional headquarters; a family office experimenting with climate tech; an operator who has taken three companies public and now wants to back 10 Emirati founders, or simply, more clients to your new restaurant.

The right question is not whether this is good news – it plainly is – but how a country already built on momentum might use this moment. Without prescribing or instructing, consider a few possibilities.

What if every newly arrived operator had a true concierge on-ramp – a 30-day path that maps permits, regulatory sandboxes, key partners and a shortlist of pilot sites – so market entry happens in days, not quarters?

The right question is not whether this is good news – it plainly is – but how a country already built on momentum might use this moment

What if free zones curated boardroom bridges that pair these arrivals with Emirati scale-ups for a year – no lectures, just time in the trenches – so know-how transfers faster than capital, and local teams learn pricing, procurement and playbooks that took others a decade?

What if our universities launched a rolling Knowledge Residency – each quarter a cohort of incoming builders co-teaches one masterclass, co-supervises one applied project tied to a real company problem and co-designs one internship pathway that outlives their visit? And while in universities, what if there were an Endowed Discovery to Deployment Fund that channels some of this private wealth into endowed chairs, translational labs and commercialisation teams.

These are not imaginary scenarios; they are taking place now and need to be boosted. The UAE is becoming the region’s Scale-Up and Growth Nation – with “soft-landing corridors” into India, Africa and Central Asia – so companies headquartered here treat the UAE as the take-off point for emerging-market expansion: regulatory briefings on Monday, distributor meetings on Wednesday, first shipment confirmed by month-end?

The world is not just sending capital; it is sending capability. And capability compounds. That is why this moment feels larger than a trendline on a wealth report. It is an evolving chapter in a story that the UAE has been writing for decades: open the door, raise the standard and let results speak. The movers are not coming to retire. They are coming to build. The rest of us – citizens, residents and the next generation – will decide what that build looks like, and how widely its benefits are shared.

This makes the country not only richer, but richer in possibilities.