BCG Survey Across 44 Countries Finds 89% of UAE Respondents Highly Satisfied With Digital Services.
The UAE has secured the top global position for satisfaction with digital government services, according to Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) 2026 Citizen Survey on Digital Government.
The survey found that 89 per cent of respondents in the UAE gave the country’s digital government services a high rating, placing it ahead of all other markets covered in the study.
The report, titled After a Decade of Digital Gains, AI Is Reshaping Citizen Expectations Across the GCC, was unveiled on the opening day of AI Everything Abu Dhabi.
According to the report, the findings highlight the strength of the UAE’s digital government ecosystem and provide a strong foundation for the next phase of AI-powered public services.
Survey covers 44 countries
Conducted across 44 countries, the survey also placed the UAE first globally for the use of digital government services, with 53 per cent of respondents saying they use these platforms.
The findings also showed that 76 per cent of UAE respondents considered their most recent digital government transaction to be a better experience than what they would typically expect when interacting with private-sector organisations.
The results indicate that the UAE is not only seeing widespread adoption of digital government platforms but also high levels of satisfaction with the experience they provide.
The UAE’s strong digital infrastructure is also supporting the growing adoption of artificial intelligence.
According to the survey, 82 per cent of respondents in the UAE said they use AI at least once a week. Meanwhile, 53 per cent believe the advantages of using AI in government services outweigh the potential risks.
That compares with 49 per cent of respondents across the GCC and 36 per cent globally, highlighting relatively strong confidence in the use of AI within government services in the UAE.
Across the wider GCC, the report also identified significant interest in the next generation of AI-enabled public services.
Around 79 per cent of GCC respondents said they would be open to interacting with government services powered by AI, compared with 66 per cent of respondents globally.
The report also found that three of the four government AI applications receiving the strongest levels of public support involved AI-agent use cases.
According to BCG, this suggests that AI agents could provide governments with a potential starting point as they develop and expand the next generation of AI-powered public services.
The survey also found that half of respondents across the GCC favour a balanced approach to the use of artificial intelligence in public services. They prefer AI to handle simpler transactions, while expecting human involvement when dealing with more complex matters.
A major opportunity
Dr Lars Littig, Managing Director and Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group, said GCC countries are well positioned to build on their digital progress as they move towards a new generation of AI-powered government services.
He said that as people become more accustomed to using artificial intelligence, improving AI literacy and strengthening public trust will be essential to maintaining adoption.
According to Littig, the next phase should focus on developing AI services around the way citizens prefer to interact with government.
This could include expanding automation and AI-agent capabilities in areas where they provide clear benefits, while continuing to rely on human judgement for more complex interactions and putting appropriate safeguards in place for the responsible use of the technology.
