I am just back from Dubai, which has been my winter sojourn for several years, to find that obituary writers have already started talking about the global entrepôt in the past tense. Sure, the first two weeks of the US-Israel war on Iran, which I was witness to, was unsettling for Dubai’s expatriate and local population. It is no fun and games to become a random target of Iranian drones and missiles, and a tiny minority of the Emirate’s population have tragically become a victim to such attacks. The sight of pitch-black smoke over the horizon, a tell-tale sign of downed missiles or drones, reminded me that obituary writers had been down this trodden path before. In the aftermath of the first Gulf War, it seemed unfathomable that the prosperous Gulf region would ever recover from the shock invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein. As then and as now, Dubai’s imminent demise seems to excite and energise a section of the global commentariat. Much has already been written about Dubai serving as a haven for tax cheats, rogue billionaires, and an assorted bunch of influencers, a favourite target for social media trolls in recent weeks. But unfortunately, less attention is being paid to Dubai’s unique role in recent decades – as a shock absorber and haven for the world’s teeming youth population, both skilled and unskilled from the developing and developed worlds. A traditional wooden dhow cruises along Dubai Creek with the Deira Twin Towers seen in the background, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, December, 28, 2025. Photo: PTI.There are very few places in the world today which are truly liberal on at least three of the four pillars of globalisation – the free movement of trade, capital, knowledge (where the UAE still imposes restrictions), and more crucially that of people. In the aftermath of the pandemic, Dubai and its sister Emirates’ focused on building a domestic economic base. These ambitions were matched by a effort to attract skilled and unskilled talent from across the globe. As the UAE sucked up youth talent from the developing and developed worlds, it became a true magnet for young people seeking to build a new life. These contributions are often overlooked in the negative narrative about Dubai which has become all-too dominant in western and Indian media in recent weeks. The risk for the developing world, particularly those with favourable demographics in South and Southeast Asia, and Africa is that should these young people return due to the ongoing turbulence in the UAE, they will face a more insecure future. Gen-Z inspired protests have erupted in South Asia and Indonesia over the past two years over a lack of employment and economic opportunities. Governments in the developing world should recognise the social risks which these returnees potentially pose. The economic impact from falling remittances is even larger. Asia’s large Gulf diaspora, who collectively remit hundreds of billions of dollars each year, provide essential foreign exchange scaffolding for countries in South and Southeast Asia, India being a particular concern because of its sheer size and high rates of youth unemployment. The second-round spillover effects, from returning diasporas and falling remittances, is being underestimated.The UAE and other Gulf nations have proven themselves to be the only game in town when it comes to work migration. This is because America’s seeming rejection of immigration, which was one of the country’s enduring organising principles, is having sharp reverberations all over the world. After all, where can youth in demographically rich countries like India, Indonesia, and sub-Saharan African turn to if the role model nation, America, shuts its doors and increasingly becomes more hostile to the idea of accepting the world’s “tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free”. The answer, in recent years at least, has been Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.Also read: Indians in Dubai Hold on to its ‘Safe Haven’ Image, Even Amid Missile StrikesThe most remarkable aspect about living in Dubai is how global the emirate has become, a true melting pot of different nationalities and races. Superficially, this is evident in the coffee shop which I frequented each morning at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), which has been a favoured target of Iranian strikes. The barista who greets me cheerfully is from Uganda and other staff includes two Filipinos, a Ghanian, and an Indian. At DIFC’s posher restaurants, the nationalities of the staff are also wildly diverse. I have encountered wait staff who happen to be Colombian, Peruvian, Hungarian, Italian, French, Ukrainian, South African, and a dizzying cocktail of other nationalities. This is not an anomaly restricted to the DIFC. With the native population of the UAE limited to around 1.1 million, the emirate’s overall population of 11 million is primarily foreign. If the UAE were the UK, population 70 million, this would be the equivalent of having an additional foreign-born population of 700 million. I exaggerate of course as the UK’s foreign-born population as of 2025 was only around 10 million, or around 17 % of the total population of the country. There is fierce opposition even to this modest percentage, led by that country’s politicians like Nigel Farage (with some public support), to roll-back the country’s liberal immigration policies. A similar phenomenon is unfolding across much of Europe, where countries are struggling to assimilate the new wave of arrivals, many of whom happen to be refugees fleeing persecution and violence in Syria, sub-Saharan Africa, and other unstable corners of the world. The rich world is not seeking to curb illegal and legal immigration alone. For a young person with resources anywhere in the world, tourism has been the most dependable way to expand horizons. A visit to the Louvre in Paris or the Vatican in Rome provides a first-time young visitor with a sense of world history and the sweep of civilisations and culture. Well, best of luck for anyone from the developing world attempting to secure a tourist visa to travel to Europe, Canada, or America. The wait is absurdly inexplicable – applicants are given waiting times for interview—420 days for a Canadian tourist visa in the case of a friend. Although Canadian or European authorities are likely to cite administrative reasons for the processing delays, the implicit message to the rest of the world cannot be simpler – don’t bother to visit. If sustained over time, this will prove to be a real barrier and shrink global understanding and amity between young people in the developing world and their rich counterparts. The flare of a projectile is seen over the skyline of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. Photo: AP/PTI. The profound geopolitical question for the next decade is while the rich world may well succeed in tamping the flow of goods and services, in a rebuke to globalisation, can they afford to do the same with the flow of people? It is easy to place tariff and non-tariff barriers to restrict the flow of trade. But as America and any number of European countries will attest, it is near impossible to stem the flow of people, many of them illegal, who attempt in the millions to move to the high-income western nations in search of a better life. The most visible manifestation of this is in demographics – the rich world, including China, Singapore, and Korea are ageing rapidly while large countries and entire continents (India, Indonesia, sub-Saharan Africa) have a surplus of youth. Predictably, if you are a qualified Ghanaian dentist aspiring to move to the UK or America to study or work, your options now are extremely limited. In short, the dentist from Ghana would be tempted to move to the UAE instead, where he or she can secure a study or work visa literally on demand and face a more congenial and diverse work environment where almost all your peers are foreign-born. Ironically, it is not only youth from the developing world who have made a beeline to Dubai and the UAE in recent years. Escaping limited opportunities, the emirate has become a haven for thousands of young Europeans. At Taormina in Sicily, I encountered a young waiter who told me that he aspired of moving to Dubai to work for a high-end restaurant because he faced stagnant wages at home and even more limited prospects for upward mobility. In short-order, Dubai has emerged as the Venice of our times and is arguably one of the world’s last bastions of globalisation. If Dubai did not exist, the world would find it necessary to create one. A thriving centre which serves as a crossroads between east and west and for commerce and talent. In a world which is rapidly erecting barriers and shutting doors, Dubai’s openness is refreshing evidence that globalisation can still deliver. So, whatever your prejudices and pre-conceived notions about Dubai might be, spare a thought to millions of skilled and unskilled professionals from all over the world who have called the emirate their home. In a fracturing world, their loss will be ours too. Vasuki Shastry, formerly with the IMF and Standard Chartered Bank, is the author of the forthcoming Emerged Markets – The Global Economy’s Better Half.