Dubai Ranks 4th Globally in Imd Smart City Index 2025
Dubai has advanced eight places to rank 4th globally in the IMD Smart City Index 2025, marking a major milestone in its digital transformation journey. The achievement reinforces Dubai’s position as the highest-ranked city in the GCC, the Arab world and Asia, and highlights its status as a global leader in smart city development and future-ready urban innovation.
Dubai recorded strong performance across key indicators in the IMD Smart City Index 2025. These include a satisfaction score of 84.5 out of 100 for booking medical appointments online, 86.5% confidence in internet speed meeting communication needs, and 85.4% satisfaction with the online processing of identification documents. Additional results show 82.8 for the quality of health services, 83.4% satisfaction with access to green spaces, 84.3% for recycling services, and 86.5% for cultural activities.
In the 2025 report, Dubai recorded progress in 16 out of 20 technology indicators and achieved advancement across all four pillars of technology governance, underscoring its commitment to continuous innovation and smart city excellence.
The IMD Smart City Index, issued by the IMD World Competitiveness Center, is a globally recognised analytical tool that assesses how effectively cities leverage digital technologies to enhance residents’ quality of life. Now in its sixth year, the Index evaluates cities across critical pillars including health, mobility, activities, governance, and opportunities. The results are drawn from a direct survey of residents and citizens who express their perception of the city.
His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, Director General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), said: “Dubai’s fourth-place ranking in the 2025 Smart City Index, issued by the Institute for Management Development (IMD), is a testament to the collective efforts of government entities and private sector partners in transforming Dubai into the world’s smartest city. This milestone reflects Dubai’s strategic commitment to harnessing cutting-edge technologies to deliver high-quality services, elevate the quality of life, and enhance the well-being and happiness of its residents.”
Al Tayer added: “RTA supports the government’s smart transformation efforts and has contributed effectively to securing this prestigious global ranking for Dubai in the Smart City Index, outperforming the transport sectors of the top three cities: Zurich, Oslo, and Geneva. This success was driven by excellence across three core mobility pillars: vehicle-sharing applications, with a utilisation rate of 67.9%, exceeding the top three by 24.4%; smart parking search applications at 73.8%, surpassing them by 29.8%; and bicycle rental applications, with a usage rate of 70%, outperforming them by 17.3%.”
