The UAE ranked first globally for citizen satisfaction with digital government services, according to Boston Consulting Group’s 2026 Citizen Survey on Digital Government.

The report found that 89% of respondents in the UAE rated the country’s digital government services highly.

The report, titled “After a Decade of Digital Achievement, AI Is Reshaping Citizen Expectations in GCC Countries,” was released on the opening day of AI Everything Abu Dhabi.

The findings highlight the UAE’s strong digital government infrastructure and expertise, which could provide a foundation for developing the next generation of AI-powered public services.

The survey, covering 44 countries, also ranked the UAE first for the use of digital government services, with 53% of respondents saying they use them.

Meanwhile, 76% of respondents in the UAE said their most recent experience completing a government service digitally was better than their typical experience interacting with private-sector companies.

The UAE’s digital leadership is now extending to the broader adoption of artificial intelligence.

According to BCG, around 82% of respondents in the UAE said they use AI at least once a week.

A further 53% believe the benefits of using AI in government services outweigh the risks, compared with 49% across the GCC and 36% globally.

Strong demand for a new generation of AI-powered government services was also recorded across GCC countries.

The report found that the region has the world’s highest level of willingness to engage with AI-enabled government services, with 79% of citizens ready to use them, compared with a global average of 66%.

Three of the four government AI applications receiving the strongest support from respondents involved the use of AI agents.

At the same time, half of respondents across the GCC said they preferred AI for simple services but wanted human involvement in more complex cases.

Dr Lars Littig, Managing Director and Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group, said GCC countries have a major opportunity to extend their current digital leadership into the next generation of AI-powered government services.

He added that as citizens become more familiar with AI, improving AI literacy and building public trust will become increasingly important to sustaining the technology’s adoption.

According to Littig, the key opportunity lies in developing AI in line with how citizens expect to interact with government services. This means expanding automation and AI agent capabilities where they add value, while retaining human judgement and responsible frameworks where needed.