International Youth Day: The UAE’s young generation is already building its future

What does being young in the UAE look like in 2026?

It might be a university student working on a start-up between lectures. It could be an athlete training before sunrise, a young Emirati sitting in a government meeting and offering an idea, or a teenager learning how to build with artificial intelligence.

It could even be someone deciding that climbing one of the world’s highest mountains is a good way to spend their summer.

The UAE’s youth story is no longer simply about preparing for the future. Increasingly, young people are being given opportunities to have a hand in creating it.

That makes International Youth Day, marked every year on August 12, particularly relevant in a country where young people make up a significant part of the population and are increasingly visible across business, government, sport, technology and culture.

There is no single definition of a successful young Emirati.

Take Wafiya Darwish Al Me’mari, who has risen through the chess world after first discovering the sport through school outreach programmes. She went on to become the first Emirati woman to compete at the FIDE Women’s World Cup. 

Then there is Salma Al Marri, who set a UAE national record in the hammer throw after training in the discipline for just six months. She has now collected 30 medals across club and national-team competitions. 

In combat sports, Zamzam Al Hammadi has broken new ground as the first Emirati female athlete to represent the country in mixed martial arts, following an already successful career in jiu-jitsu. 

And for Mohammed Yousuf, sport has provided a route from discovering his talent at the Fazza Championships to winning the UAE’s first gold medal at the 2026 Fazza International Para Athletics Championships – Dubai Grand Prix in the T34 100m wheelchair race. 

Then there is Nayla Al Baloushi, who became the first Emirati woman to stand at the summit of Mount Everest in 2022. At 8,849 metres above sea level, the achievement was more than a personal milestone, it placed an Emirati woman at the top of the world’s highest mountain and offered a powerful example of just how far ambition can take young women from the UAE.

Their stories are different, but they share something important: they are not waiting for someone to tell them what the future should look like.

For today’s young generation, the career paths available to them can look very different from those their parents grew up with.

Artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, space technology, digital trade and entrepreneurship are no longer distant concepts. They are becoming part of the everyday choices young people make about what they want to study and where they want to work.

The UAE is responding by trying to give young people exposure to those fields early.

In July, the Federal Youth Authority launched the National Readiness Programme – Ghatareef, an 11-month programme designed for recent Emirati secondary-school graduates.

Rather than simply focusing on classroom learning, the programme combines academic study with practical training and exposure to sectors including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, food security, health sciences and logistics. Participants can also receive professional certificates, practical training and support for future career pathways. 

It is essentially a bridge between finishing school and figuring out what comes next.

And for many young people, that period can be one of the most uncertain parts of growing up.

Perhaps one of the UAE’s most distinctive approaches to youth is that young people are not only being encouraged to participate — they are increasingly being asked to contribute to decision-making.

Youth councils operate across government and the emirates, giving young people platforms to discuss issues affecting their generation and develop initiatives.

The Abu Dhabi Youth Council, for example, entered its seventh cycle with members from different academic and professional backgrounds. Its members are tasked with representing youth and contributing to initiatives across different sectors. 

In Ajman, the newly approved Ajyal 2026 strategy is targeting people aged 11 to 24, with programmes built around future skills, knowledge, participation and leadership. The strategy also aims to use young people’s input to inform policies and programmes affecting their generation. 

That matters because there is a big difference between doing something for young people and doing something with them.

The youth conversation is not restricted to start-ups, universities and technology labs.

Dubai Courts is marking International Youth Day today with a youth-focused event, bringing the occasion into one of the UAE’s more traditional public institutions.

The move reflects a wider shift: young people are increasingly being encouraged to see themselves not as future employees or future leaders, but as people who can contribute to institutions right now.

And that may be one of the most important messages of International Youth Day.

Because young people do not suddenly become capable of leading on their 25th, 30th or 40th birthday.

They learn by being trusted with responsibility earlier.

Of course, youth empowerment is not just about producing record-breakers or people who make international headlines.

For every young Emirati whose name appears in the news, there are thousands of others quietly building their own futures — studying, volunteering, experimenting with business ideas, learning new skills or simply trying to figure out what they are good at.

The UAE has been building programmes around that reality.

Its youth ecosystem includes youth councils, training opportunities, entrepreneurship initiatives and programmes designed to develop future skills. The latest Ghatareef programme is one example of how the country is trying to connect education with practical experience and national priorities. 

The aim is not to make every young person an entrepreneur, athlete or government leader.

It is to give them enough space to discover what they can become.

Ask a young person in the UAE and you will probably get a very different answer depending on who you speak to.

For one, it might mean launching a business.

For another, it could mean representing the UAE at the Olympics.

For someone else, it might mean becoming an engineer, filmmaker, scientist, lawyer, designer or civil servant.

And that variety is arguably the most interesting part of the UAE’s youth story.

The country is investing heavily in preparing young people for a future that is changing faster than anyone can predict, while increasingly giving them opportunities to influence that future themselves.

So on International Youth Day, perhaps the better question is not “What will UAE youth achieve one day?”

It is:

“What are they already changing?”