United Arab Emirates Map

The United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven emirates on the south-eastern coast of the Gulf. Saudi Arabia lies to the south and west and Oman to the east, including Oman's Musandam peninsula to the north and the small Madha exclave, which the UAE surrounds. The UAE covers about 83,600 square kilometers and has about 11.3 million residents (UN World Population Prospects, 2025 estimate). Emirati citizens are commonly estimated at only around one resident in ten. The largest groups are from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and other Arab states.

The seven emirates

• Abu Dhabi: covers about 87% of the land and holds most of the country's oil. The federal capital stands on an island, and Al Ain, an inland oasis city on the Omani border, has UNESCO-listed Bronze Age tombs and falaj-watered gardens (2011). The Liwa oases curve along the edge of the Empty Quarter in the south.
• Dubai: the most populous emirate, which passed 4 million residents in 2025 (Dubai Statistics Center). It is home to the 828 m Burj Khalifa (2010), the world's tallest building, the port of Jebel Ali and Dubai International, the world's busiest airport for international passengers.
• Sharjah: the third emirate (1.8 million in its 2022 census), known for its museums. It also owns enclaves on the east coast, including Khor Fakkan and Kalba. Inland, the Faya Palaeolandscape, with traces of Stone Age humans, became the UAE's second World Heritage Site in 2025.
• Ajman: the smallest emirate, about 260 km², a mainly residential strip of coast next to Sharjah with a historic dhow-building yard.
• Umm Al Quwain: the least populous, with lagoons, mangroves and islands such as Al Sinniyah.
• Ras Al Khaimah: the northernmost emirate, rising into the Hajar Mountains at Jebel Jais.
• Fujairah: the only emirate wholly on the Gulf of Oman coast. Its oil terminal, fed by a pipeline from Abu Dhabi, lets exports bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

Sand, sabkha and the Hajar

Most of the UAE is low desert. In the south, the dunes of the Rub' al Khali reach the Liwa area, where Moreeb Dune, around 300 meters high, hosts car and motorbike hill-climb events. Western Abu Dhabi's coast is lined with some of the largest salt flats (sabkha) in the world, and the shallow Gulf waters hold mangroves, seagrass beds and many islands, from Sir Bani Yas to the artificial Palm Jumeirah. In the north-east, the bare peaks of the Hajar Mountains divide the Gulf coast from the Gulf of Oman. The highest ground in the country is on the slopes of Jebel Jais in Ras Al Khaimah, at about 1,900 meters; the summit itself, 1,934 meters, lies just over the border in Oman. Mountain enclaves such as Hatta belong to Dubai.

Climate and when to visit

From June to September, temperatures regularly exceed 45°C inland, and the coast is very humid. November to March brings warm days in the 20s°C and is the main season for visitors. Rain is rare but can be intense. On 16 April 2024, Khatm Al Shakla near Al Ain recorded 254 mm in 24 hours, the heaviest daily rainfall since UAE records began in 1949, and parts of Dubai flooded.

From Trucial States to federation

After an 1820 treaty with Britain, the coastal sheikhdoms became known as the Trucial States, and Britain managed their defence and foreign affairs. Pearling sustained them until its collapse in the 1930s. Oil was found offshore Abu Dhabi in 1958, and exports began in 1962. When Britain announced in 1968 that it would leave the Gulf, the rulers negotiated a union. Six emirates formed the UAE on 2 December 1971, and Ras Al Khaimah joined on 10 February 1972; Bahrain and Qatar chose separate independence. A 1974 agreement with Saudi Arabia fixed the southern border.

Iran has held the islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb since 1971. The UAE claims them, and the dispute is unresolved. The federation's founding president, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, led it until 2004, and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed has been president since 2022. The UAE normalised relations with Israel under the 2020 Abraham Accords. It has built the most diversified economy in the Gulf on trade, aviation, finance and tourism; the Dubai-based airline Emirates, for example, is the world's largest operator of the Airbus A380. GDP per capita was about US$50,300 in 2024 (World Bank).