he Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) said the UAE was among the world’s leading countries in various digital life indexes, due to the significant advancement of its information and communication technology sector.
In its report, titled, "Digital Lifestyle in the UAE," the TDRA noted that in line with the figures included in relevant international reports, the UAE was ranked first globally in the use of social media, second globally and first in the Arab region in the use of the internet, and the ninth globally and first in the Arab region in e-commerce.
The report also noted that the UAE is the first country in the region to establish a digital government in 2001, and has promoted digitisation as a lifestyle to be practised by individuals and organisations to achieve the highest levels of efficiency.
In detail, the UAE was ranked first globally in terms of mobile internet speed, with the average internet speed in the country being 134.48 megabytes per second (Mbps) while the global average is 30 Mbps.
The report added that the UAE was ranked 13th globally in terms of home internet speed, with the average internet speed in the country reaching 124.7 Mbps compared to the global average of 63.46 Mbps.
The country was also ranked second globally in terms of internet usage at a rate of 99 percent compared to the global average of 62.5 percent, indicating that the number of internet users in the UAE is 9.935 million.
The report also showed that the UAE was ranked 12th globally in terms of time spent using mobile internet at 4 hours and 35 minutes, compared to the global average of three hours and 43 minutes. The country was also ranked 11th globally in terms of time spent using the internet.
The report highlighted the fact that the UAE was ranked 10th globally in terms of average time spent using the internet across all devices, whether computers or mobile phones, with an average of eight hours and 36 minutes, compared to the global average of six hours and 58 minutes.
The report further showed that the UAE is ranked first globally in terms of average time spent on social media per capita at 106 percent, compared to the global average of 58.4 percent. The UAE also surpassed in population engagement in social media the global rate by 200 percent.
The report then pointed out that the UAE was among the top 20 countries in terms of using digital videos as a source of learning at 50 percent, and it was ranked among the top 10 countries in terms of sharing digital visual blogs at 27.6 percent.
Regarding entertainment, the UAE was ranked among the top 10 countries in e-gaming at 90 percent while regarding the economy, the country was ranked among the top 10 countries in the percentage of the population possessing cryptocurrencies at 11.4 percent. The UAE was also ranked among the top 20 countries globally in terms of the percentage of the population undergoing telemedicine at a rate of 26.4 percent.
The report highlighted the fact that the UAE was ranked ninth globally in e-commerce, with the average annual per capita share of digital spending in the country being some US$3,775, compared to the global average of $1,766.
Furthermore, the UAE was ranked 14th globally in online weekly purchases, with 59 percent of the population buying their needs online weekly, and it was ranked 13th in terms of weekly online purchases using mobile phones, with 32.4 percent of the UAE population buying their needs by phone online weekly.
The report noted that the UAE was ranked among the top 20 countries in terms of digital content, with 68.1 percent of the population buying miscellaneous digital content on the internet, and it was ranked ninth globally in terms of weekly household food purchases, with 33.4 percent of the UAE population buying their food needs online weekly.
The UAE was ranked 12th globally in the time spent on social media at 4 hours and 35 minutes, and it was ranked 11th globally in terms of average social media platforms used. Moreover, the country was ranked among the top 20 in terms of using social media to search for brands at 48.8 percent, and it was ranked 13th globally in the use of social media for business-related purposes at 28 percent.
According to the report, the country was ranked fifth globally in the percentage of Facebook ads in the UAE at 82.5 percent compared to 34.1 percent globally, and fifth globally in the percentage of YouTube social ads, which reached 93.4 percent compared to the global rate of 37.7 percent.
The UAE was ranked sixth globally in the percentage of Instagram ads, reaching 60.2 percent compared to the global percentage of 23.9 percent, and it was ranked second globally in the percentage of Tik Tok ads, reaching 81.3 percent compared to the global rate of 15.9 percent.
The UAE was also ranked third globally in the percentage of LinkedIn ads, reaching 69 percent compared to the global average of 14.6 percent, as well as eight globally in the percentage of Snapchat ads, reaching 37.2 percent compared to the global average of 9 percent.