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The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) — comprising Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait — is undergoing a profound economic and strategic transformation. Once defined almost exclusively by oil wealth, the region is rapidly repositioning itself as a global hub for technology, renewable energy, capital formation, logistics, and high-value infrastructure.
With a combined nominal GDP in the low trillions of dollars and a population projected to reach 61.2 million by the end of 2024, the GCC is leveraging its size, youthful demographics, and strategic investments to shape a new era of global relevance. This shift is anchored in bold long-term national strategies — including Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, the UAE Centennial Plan and AI Strategy 2031, and the Qatar National Vision — which collectively aim to diversify economic structures and accelerate innovation.
Several indicators point to this emerging renaissance: expanding non-oil GDP across the bloc, rising venture capital activity, fast-growing technology ecosystems, and some of the world’s most ambitious renewable energy commitments. Together, these trends signal a region moving confidently beyond hydrocarbons toward a future defined by digital transformation, sustainable development, and global economic influence.
From hydrocarbons to hybrid economies: the macroeconomic picture
The GCC’s economic narrative in the 2020s is one of managed transition. While hydrocarbons
remain strategically important revenues, fiscal buffers, global energy market role, non-oil
sectors; finance, construction, tourism, logistics, manufacturing, and digital services are
capturing a much larger share of activity. Across the bloc, real GDP growth is projected to
strengthen in the medium term as non-oil expansion offsets oil-sector fluctuations; multilateral
forecasts show GDP growth accelerating into the mid-2020s as diversification policies take hold.
By aggregated nominal measures, the GCC’s combined GDP is measured in the low-to-mid
trillions of U.S. dollars where recent datasets put the bloc’s total nominal GDP above $3 trillion.
At the country level, IMF WEO tables (2025 vintage) show Saudi Arabia and the UAE as the
region’s largest economies; Saudi ~ $1.08 trillion nominal; UAE ~ $548.6 billion, with Qatar,
Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain making up the remainder. These figures underline the scale of capital
and market that national plans can mobilize for structural transformation.
Financial scale (multi-trillion GDP) plus sovereign balance sheets enable long-horizon
investments in technology, infrastructure and green energy that typical emerging economies
cannot match with accelerating structural change.
Demographics and human capital: population growth, urbanization, and skills
GCC population dynamics are distinctive: rapid urbanization, sizeable expatriate communities,
and a young working-age cohort in several member states. Official GCC-Stat reporting placed
the total population at 61.2 million at end-2024, reflecting steady in-migration and demographic
growth. That population, concentrated in metropolitan corridors (Riyadh, Dubai/Abu Dhabi,
Doha, Kuwait City, Manama, Muscat), is the demand base for large-scale digital services,
consumer markets, and talent pools for tech ecosystems.
Governments are investing heavily in higher education, vocational training, and nationalization
programs such as Saudization, Emiratization, etc. to shift labour market structures and increase
domestic participation in higher-value economic activity.
continue reading: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a3uwFaKM6CmLIhubG03fCn9WP7dPEGcr/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104401395919633590570&rtpof=true&sd=true
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