The UAE has placed sixth out of 98 countries in the newly released Global Skills Report 2026, published jointly by online learning platforms Coursera and Udemy, topping every other country in the Middle East on the index. The report's AI-Human Skills Synergy Index puts Germany, France, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong ahead of the UAE in the top five spots, while the Netherlands, the United States, Singapore, Canada, Israel and the United Kingdom all rank below it. The index is built from two components: 60 per cent comes from Coursera's own learner data, tracking skill proficiency, the range of courses studied, and how much overlap there is between people learning AI skills and those learning human-centred skills such as communication and leadership. The remaining 40 per cent draws on Oxford Insights' Government AI Readiness Index 2025, which scores government capacity, policy infrastructure and technology readiness. The report also points to a sharp rise in AI-related learning worldwide: enrolments in AI courses grew 67 per cent year-on-year, while enrolments in generative AI courses specifically jumped 132 per cent, with more than 45 new learners signing up for generative AI content every minute at peak. "The leaders moving fastest with AI treat skills training as equally important as investments in technology," said Anthony Salcito, Coursera's senior vice-president and president of enterprise, commenting on the findings. The UAE's sixth-place finish reflects years of government investment in AI education and national digital-skills programmes, positioning the country as the clear regional leader even as it trails several established economies in Europe and East Asia on the overall index.