UAE Tops New Wealth-Mobility Ranking as Residents Seek Backup Plans

The United Arab Emirates led a new international ranking of wealth migration and capital mobility, even though Henley & Partners said 41% of UAE residents sought a contingency plan in the first quarter of 2026. The report, published Tuesday, said the richest people are increasingly using multiple citizenships and residencies, spreading assets across countries and building what it called a “sovereign portfolio” to reduce geopolitical risk.

Henley said that in the first five months of 2026 it received applications from 86 nationalities under 47 investment migration programs, and more than 28% of applicants already live outside their country of citizenship. The 2026 Private Wealth Migration Report introduced a new competitiveness index based on 12 factors, including tax, rule of law, quality of life, investor visas, geopolitical stability, and capital mobility. Henley, the world’s largest residence and citizenship-by-investment advisory firm, operates two branches in Israel, in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The UAE scored 85.3 out of 100, ahead of Singapore with 79.5 and New Zealand with 75.8. The second tier included the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Greece, and Monaco. Italy stood out for its flat tax regime for new residents, favorable inheritance rules, and access to the European market, while Greece benefited after Spain closed its golden visa program and Portugal ended its real estate investment route. The report said demand does not disappear when a country shuts a wealth-attraction channel, it moves elsewhere.

At the bottom of the table were Brazil, China, Russia, India, Iran, Lebanon, and Nigeria. The report said China and India remain major sources of wealth, but capital controls, tax complexity, and geopolitical uncertainty are pushing affluent families to look abroad. Western countries under pressure included Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, South Korea, and France. Britain was cited as a clear example, with the end of non-dom status, inheritance tax changes, and the closure of its investor visa causing a 15% rise in requests from people with a British address between 2024 and 2025. British citizens now make up almost half of all applicants with a UK address, up from 8% in 2018.

The United States scored only 62.3 despite being the world’s biggest wealth generator. Henley said U.S. applications doubled in 2025 and continued rising in 2026, with only 7% coming from Americans living abroad. About half of all applications are aimed at Europe, and more than a quarter at Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite regional tensions, the UAE also saw a 29% increase in applications for alternative residence or citizenship, but Henley said most of that demand comes from entrepreneurs and international families using the country as a base, not from people trying to leave it.