The UAE is ranked as one of the most trusted countries in the world

The Abu Dhabi Corniche with the UAE flag. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

When the images of Pope Francis wearing a white puffer jacket went viral on social media, millions of people around the world believed that the pontiff had a newly found passion for modern fashion. And while the AI-generated pictures duped the world, they also demarcated a new frontier in our relationships with the four institutions we measure in the 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report.

That frontier is the increasing commodification of trust. Belief and trust are now as polarised as the world we live in today. Trust around the world is being challenged by a precarious balance of information or, in fact, misinformation.

And trust – over belief – has the power to define the perceptions of the institutions that govern and influence everyday life for billions of people around the world. For the past 23 years, Edelman has measured trust in government, business, media and NGOs globally through our Trust Barometer report to assess the health of the relationships between social, commercial and political life around the world.

This year’s report, Navigating a Polarised World, has studied the increasing divide between institutions and 32,000 respondents in 28 countries. The report outlines the increased social and political polarisation globally, driven by a lack of trust in government and media; economic pessimism; and a lack of shared values. Today, people are having to navigate an uncertain global economic future without a trust safety net.

With global economic shocks such as inflation and spiking interest rates, economic optimism is collapsing around the world, with 24 out of 28 countries in our study recording all-time lows, and 53 per cent of respondents saying that their countries are more divided today than in the past. Meanwhile, a once-shared media landscape has given way to the many echo chambers available online, making it harder to solve problems collaboratively. Overall, media is not trusted globally, with especially low trust in social media. And the social divide across the world affects perceptions. People in the top quartile of income live in a different trust reality than those in the bottom quartile.

Yet, the 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report has found that the UAE continues to be one of the most unified and trusted countries, according to its residents. Despite a global cost-of-living crisis, as well as soaring energy costs in Europe and North America, the UAE is ranked as one of the most trusted countries in the world. The UAE’s government once again was the most trusted institution at 86 per cent, followed closely by business at 78 per cent.

Respondents to Edelman’s report believe that the UAE’s government, businesses and NGOs are seen as competent and ethical. Meanwhile, 72 per cent of respondents in the UAE believe they will be better off economically in five years’ time, while only 40 per cent – a staggering ten point drop since 2022 – of global respondents believe they and their families will be better off in five years.

It is the very real experiences in the UAE that buck the trend we see in the 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report. Contrary to the global economic fragmentation post-Covid-19, the UAE has sought to build bridges around the world with trade deals such as the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement or the 23 trade and investment agreements with South Korea to bring businesses in the two countries closer together.

The UAE government and businesses are united in their long-term outlook to navigate the impacts of rising polarisation. For example, the UAE Strategy for the Future covers solutions to optimise broader economic and social welfare in the country, encompassing technology, infrastructure, healthcare, international relations and food security – all combining to ensure the prospect for stability and unity in the nation continues in the long term. Ultimately, decisive and clear action is leading to trust, and that trust is giving the UAE a licence to lead.

As trust increasingly becomes a commodity elsewhere, the UAE has found a way to value it the most. While AI and a polarised world might well make many across the globe question what they see, it is the lived experiences in the UAE that make it rank so highly in the 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report. Our trust in the country goes beyond belief and is based on action.