UAE, leading Arab country on UNDP Global Knowledge Index (GKI) 2020

United Arab Emirates, UAE, is topping the Arab region on the UNDP Global Knowledge Index (GKI) 2020 as the Gulf country ranks 15th, globally.
The index launched in 2017, aims to measure the multifaceted concept of knowledge, the UN body says.
Covering 138 countries, GKI provides a systematic tool for guiding and informing policymakers, researchers, civil society and the private sector to collaborate on different aspects of policies to foster knowledge-based societies and bridge knowledge gaps.
GKI considers seven sectors namely pre-university education, Technical & Vocational Education & Training, Higher Education, Research, Development & Innovation, Information & Communications Technologies, Economy and General Enabling Environment.
UAE on the global ranking, scores 66.1. It also ranks 15th out of 56 in terms of high human development.
The Arab country also achieved over 100, 75.5 in pre-university education (10th in the world), 69.6 in Technical & Vocational Education & Training, Higher Education (11th), 55.4 in Higher Education (19th), 37.8 in Research, Development & Innovation (29th), 79.9 in Information & Communications Technologies (14th), 73.2 in Economy (2nd) and 73.9 in General Enabling Environment(27th).
The country according to UNDP still has several areas to improve. They include Labor force participation rate, female-to-male ratio, Restrictive labor regulations, Industrial design applications, Renewable energy consumption and Total CO2 emissions per capita. UAE outclasses Qatar (39th), Saudi Arabia (42nd), Bahrain (43th), Oman (58th), Kuwait (65th), Egypt (72nd), Tunisia (82nd) and Morocco (83rd), the other best ranked Arab countries.
The global ranking is dominated by developing countries headed by Switzerland (1st), United States (2nd), Finland (3rd), Sweden (4th) and Netherlands (5th).