The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federal country in the Middle East comprising seven emirates; Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm Al Quwain.
Location and Geography
The UAE is located on the Arabian Peninsula and is bordered by Oman and Saudi Arabia. It covers an area of 83,600 square kilometres, roughly the same size as Austria or the Czech Republic.
Abu Dhabi is by far the largest emirate, spanning an area of 67,340 square kilometres. It is also the capital of the UAE. Dubai has a land area of just over 4,100 square kilometres.
Population and Demography
The population of the UAE has grown rapidly in recent times. Data from the United Nations indicates that the population in 2020 is 9,890,400.
Public Holidays
UAE public holidays can be found here. Most are Islamic occasions and follow the Hijri (Islamic) calendar. The Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar with 12 months and 354 days.
Islamic holiday dates will therefore shift from year to year when using the Western or Gregorian calendar (365/366 days). Furthermore, as the start date of each Islamic month depends on local sightings of the moon, the dates of most public holidays can only be estimated.
The government only confirms the exact dates of each holiday a few days in advance.
Flag
The flag of the UAE contains the Pan-Arab colours of red, green, white, and black. Each of the seven emirates, with the exception of Fujairah, also has its own flag.
Currency and Exchange Rates
The dirham is the official currency of the UAE. Its ISO code/official abbreviation is AED (Arab Emirate Dirham). Other abbreviations used are DH and Dhs. There are 100 fils in a dirham.
Bank notes have values of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 AED.
Coins come in denominations of 1 AED and 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 fils. However, only the three most valuable coins are in common circulation.
The dirham is pegged to the US dollar. 1 US dollar equals 3.6725 dirhams (1 dirham equals 0.272 US dollars).
Recent exchange rates for a selection of other currencies are:
- Australia – 1 Australian dollar (AUD) = 2.34 AED
- Bahrain – 1 Bahraini dinar (BHD) = 9.74 AED
- Bangladesh – 1 Bangladeshi taka (BDT) = 0.033 AED
- Canada – 1 Canadian dollar (CAD) = 2.69 AED
- China – 1 Chinese yuan (CNY) = 0.51 AED
- Egypt – 1 Egyptian pound (EGP) = 0.12 AED
- Eurozone – 1 euro (EUR) = 3.86 AED
- Hong Kong – 1 Hong Kong dollar (HKD) = 0.47 AED
- India – 1 Indian rupee (INR) = 0.044 AED
- Indonesia – 1 Indonesian rupiah (IDR) = 0.00024 AED
- Japan – 1 Japanese yen (JPY) = 0.025 AED
- Jordan- 1 Jordanian dinar (JOD) = 5.18 AED
- Kuwait – 1 Kuwaiti dinar (KWD) = 11.88 AED
- Morocco – 1 Moroccan dirham (MAD) = 0.36 AED
- Nepal – 1 Nepalese rupee (NPR) = 0.028 AED
- New Zealand – 1 New Zealand dollar (NZD) = 2.19 AED
- Nigeria – 1 Nigerian naira (NGN) = 0.005 AED
- Oman – 1 Omani rial (OMR) = 9.54 AED
- Pakistan – 1 Pakistani rupee (PKR) = 0.013 AED
- Philippines – 1 Philippine peso (PHP) = 0.065 AED
- Qatar – 1 Qatari riyal (QAR) = 1.01 AED
- Russia – 1 Russian ruble (RUB) = 0.037 AED
- Saudi Arabia – 1 Saudi riyal (SAR) = 0.98 AED
- Singapore – 1 Singapore dollar (SGD) = 2.67 AED
- South Africa – 1 South African rand (ZAR) = 0.19 AED
- Sri Lanka – 1 Sri Lankan rupee (LKR) = 0.011 AED
- Switzerland – 1 Swiss franc (CHF) = 4 AED
- Thailand – 1 Thai baht (THB) = 0.1 AED
- Turkey – 1 Turkish lira (TRY) = 0.13 AED
- UK – 1 British pound sterling (GBP) = 4.45 AED
Rates were updated on Monday 2nd of October 2023 at 2:22 pm GMT.
Live AED exchange rates for these and more currencies can be found here.
Time Zone
The time zone of the United Arab Emirates is UAE Standard Time. This is four hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)/Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
The local time in the United Arab Emirates is now . It is .
In the UAE clocks are not adjusted in the summer for daylight saving time (DST). Like many countries lying near the equator, seasonal differences in sunlight hours are not significant enough to warrant a change.
The current time in the UAE and time differences between the UAE and major cities around the world can be viewed here.
