Dubai, Abu Dhabi named world’s No. 1 cities for expats’ ease of entry.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi have tied to rank first globally for ease of entry, according to a new study.

Dubai retained its leading position in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region on Kearney’s Global Cities Index, ranking 24th globally and claiming a spot in the top 25 for the fourth consecutive year.

Ease of entry is a new metric under the human capital dimension, underscoring the cities’ success in attracting and retaining foreign talent.

Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, and Dammam in Saudi Arabia demonstrated adaptability in the face of global economic and geopolitical challenges, the report said. Dammam saw a significant 19-rank increase in the business activity dimension, driven largely by a 71-per-cent rise in its services sector, with five top global services firms establishing a presence in the city.

“This underscores the growing importance of services, particularly in the GCC region, where economic diversification is a key priority,” a statement said. Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s top rankings have been driven by open immigration policies for the specific purpose of attracting talent, while Riyadh saw a substantial bump in the rankings for unicorn companies, the statement added.

Kearney’s annual Global Cities Report — composed of the Global Cities Index (GCI) and Global Cities Outlook (GCO) — seeks to measure and analyse the connectivity and global character of the world’s most internationally connected and influential metropolitan areas. Overall, Middle Eastern cities were largely stable in their scores this year, with a stronger performance in the global services firms metric under the business activity dimension, reflecting the strong push across the GCC toward increasingly diversified economies.

The global cities index (GCI) seeks to quantify the extent to which a city can attract, retain, and generate global flows of capital, people, and ideas. Cities are measured against five key dimensions: human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, political engagement, and business activity.

“Our analysis shows a new form of globalisation emerging — one that is more distributed and networked, and highly uncertain in the near term. As patterns of global trade and capital flows shift, cities in the Middle East have enormous opportunity to leverage their strategic location, robust economies, attractive immigration policies, and underlying digital infrastructure to not only mitigate risks, but also propel economic growth,” said Rudolph Lohmeyer, Kearney partner at National Transformations Institute.

The global cities outlook (GCO) aims to identify cities most likely to achieve global prominence in the future. Those that continue to prioritise security, stability, health, and environment are in a strong position to remain resilient to continued economic shocks.

Despite global trade tensions and a downturn in foreign direct investment (FDI), many cities have managed to sustain innovation, especially in generating patents and attracting private investment. Additionally, those that have maintained moderate costs of capital and advanced digital infrastructure have continued to attract investment and drive economic growth, even amidst broader global uncertainty.

In the Middle East, Dubai, Makkah, and Muscat have exemplified these trends. Dubai saw a 10-rank increase in innovation, Makkah climbed by eight ranks, and Muscat rose by 11 ranks, largely driven by gains in the private investments metric. These cities have benefited from the ability to maintain low real interest rates and foster private market growth, all while advancing ambitious economic diversification agendas. Their focus on innovation and investment resilience has positioned them as key players in the global economy despite challenging macroeconomic conditions worldwide.

While global cities have adapted to geoeconomic pressures, they also face growing environmental challenges exacerbated by climate change. “Climate disasters have caused significant financial losses, and cities — being major consumers of energy and producers of greenhouse gas emissions — are both victims of and contributors to these issues,” the report noted.

“We see significant efforts from cities to address challenges related to sustainability and climate change, but too often these are piecemeal reactions to individual symptoms. Cities must shift their perspective toward being more systems-oriented and proactive. This is possible through what we call a regenerative approach – one that focuses on building institutional capabilities and readiness to address the challenges of today and tomorrow holistically, and for the benefit of all,” said Sascha Treppte, Partner, Kearney Middle East, and Africa.