Net wealth in the UAE is set to jump to $6 trillion by the end of this decade despite the short-term volatility caused by conflict in the Middle East, a new report has found.
In the five years to the end of 2030, net wealth in the Emirates is set to increase by more than $2.3 trillion, at annual growth of 10.6 per cent, the report by global advisory firm Boston Consulting Group said.
The sharp projected increase, driven by a rise in real assets and financial wealth, “points to the UAE's long-term wealth creation potential”, BCG said in its Global Wealth Report 2026: The Great Reordering report on Monday.
Last year alone, net wealth in the Arab world’s second-largest economy grew by almost 13 per cent on an annual basis to reach $3.6 trillion.
Real, or physical, assets with intrinsic value such as property portfolios reached $2.4 trillion in 2025, jumping from $2.2 trillion at the end of the previous year. Financial wealth grew to $1.4 trillion in 2025, rising from $1.2 trillion a year earlier, while liabilities for the same period rose from $210 billion to $220 billion. The report estimates liabilities to rise to $340 billion by 2030.
The Iran war has introduced “short-term volatility across Middle Eastern markets, with investor sentiment shaped by geopolitical uncertainty and oil-price movements”, said Lukasz Rey, managing director and partner at BCG.
“While we anticipate slightly lower growth over the next one to two years, a rebound is expected towards the latter part of the decade.”
Sovereign wealth strength, economic diversification agendas, family-business liquidity events and private capital activity will all help drive wealth creation in the country, Mr Rey said.
Caution to prevail
BCG, he said, expects wealth managers to remain cautious in the near term. However, “the region's wealth development story remains structurally resilient over the five-year projection horizon”, Mr Rey added.
The Iran war, which began on February 28, has led to increased economic uncertainty across the Middle East. Despite a halt in all-out hostilities since early April, several attempts to reach a permanent deal to end the conflict have failed.
The World Bank last week said Gulf economies would contract by an average of 4.3 per cent this year, a downwards revision of 5.7 percentage points from its forecast in April.
The International Monetary Fund also expects economies in the region to contract this year but anticipates a sharp expansion next year once the conflict settles, managing director Kristalina Georgieva said.
Despite the geopolitical uncertainty and economic headwinds, wealth generation and flow of new money to the UAE continues. The country remains a magnet for the ultra-wealthy, as well as global wealth managers and trillion-dollar asset managers.
A base in the country offers global investors and money managers opportunities to expand regional operations and work with some of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, as well as family offices and institutional partners.
Concentration of wealth
The UAE’s financial wealth remains concentrated among high-net-worth individuals, with “the composition of wealth expected to evolve by 2030 as more wealth accumulates within the lower high-net-worth segment”, the BCG report said.
The country had about 500 ultra-high-net-worth individuals – those with assets in excess of $100 million – in 2025. That number is expected to jump to about 800 by the end of the decade, while their share of total financial wealth will rise marginally from 26.3 per cent to 26.5 per cent.
The upper high-net-worth segment, featuring people with assets of $20 million to $100 million, is forecast to grow from about 2,700 to 4,200 individuals, with their share of wealth broadly stable, rising from 7.4 per cent in 2025 to 7.6 per cent in 2030.
Meanwhile, the group of 200,000 lower high-net-worth individuals, with an asset range of $1 million to $20 million, are estimated to increase their share of financial wealth from 29.3 per cent in 2025 to 31.5 per cent in 2030.
The affluent segment with assets worth $1 million is expected to expand from about 500,000 to 600,000 individuals in 2030. However, its share of wealth will decline from 15.5 per cent to 14.6 per cent, BCG data found.
Centre of choice
The UAE also continues to strengthen its position as a global wealth booking centre, with cross-border wealth belonging to international clients and booked in the country jumping more than 11 per cent to $721 billion last year.
Currency and deposits, valued at $471.8 billion in 2025, are projected to rise more than 10 per cent annually to $778.9 billion by 2030.
Bonds are estimated to grow almost 12 per cent on an annual basis to $27.8 billion, while equities are expected to reach jump to $591.9 billion by 2030, from $419.4 billion last year, BCG found.