Market Research Companies in Dubai

Key figures for researchers

Population

4.58 million (end of 2025)¹

Population growth

+7.5% in 2025, about 332,000 more residents¹

Daytime population

6.39 million at peak hours, including 1.81 million temporary visitors (2025)¹

Men / women

68.5% / 31.5% of residents (2024)²

Under 35

60.4% of residents; only 2.5% are aged 60+ (2024)³

Emiratis

233,430, about 9% of residents (2016, latest published)⁴

International visitors

19.6 million (2025)¹

Free zones

20+⁵

Businesses

292,486 active Dubai Chamber of Commerce members (end of 2025)⁶

Research guide

Research landscape

Dubai is the main base for market research in the United Arab Emirates and for many regional studies across the Gulf and the wider Middle East: local full-service agencies, qualitative and B2B specialists, fieldwork and panel providers, and regional offices of international networks. With 292,486 active Dubai Chamber members at the end of 2025 and more than 20 free zones, the city is also the main location for B2B, trade and professional services research in the country.

Who you will interview

Dubai is young and male-majority: in 2024, 68.5% of residents were men and 60.4% were under 35, while only 2.5% were aged 60 and over. Most residents are expatriates; Emiratis were about 9% of the population in 2016, the latest published figure.

A sample without quotas will be dominated by young expatriate men. Set quotas by nationality group (Emirati, Arab expatriates, South Asian, Western and other Asian), gender, age and income, and plan questionnaires in Arabic and English, with Hindi/Urdu, Malayalam or Tagalog versions when South Asian or Filipino residents are in the target. Emiratis are the hardest group to reach: they are often recruited through personal networks, and women are usually interviewed by female interviewers or moderators.

Fieldwork in practice

The population is growing fast (+7.5% in 2025) and moves a lot, so sampling frames and panels date quickly. The city also fills up during the day: 6.39 million people at peak hours in 2025, including 1.81 million temporary visitors, many of them commuters and tourists. Check that street or mall intercepts screen out non-residents when the target is Dubai residents.

Access depends on housing: villa communities and residential towers with security desks are hard to reach door to door, and lower-income workers living in shared labour accommodation are usually reached with the employer’s cooperation or through community intercepts. Online and telephone work well for most targets; face-to-face or assisted interviews help for lower-income workers and some language groups.

Focus groups and qualitative research

In-person focus groups are usually held in viewing facilities or hotel meeting rooms. Groups are often split by nationality, language and gender, and Emirati groups, especially women, typically need a same-gender moderator and recruitment through trusted networks.

Ask the agency for its incentive levels and recruitment lead times by nationality group. B2B and senior respondents in the free zones often prefer short online or telephone interviews, and online communities and video interviews are widely used alongside in-person groups.

Timing

Government offices have worked a Monday-to-Friday week, with a Saturday–Sunday weekend, since 1 January 2022, with Friday ending at noon: avoid Friday afternoons for B2B interviews.

Ramadan is expected to start around 8 February 2027, with Eid al-Fitr from around 9 March (exact dates depend on the moon sighting): routines change, working hours are shorter and fieldwork moves to the evening. Summer is very hot: outdoor work is banned from 12:30 to 3 pm every year from 15 June to 15 September, so outdoor intercepts are limited and many residents travel abroad in July and August.

Working with a Dubai agency

• Share a clear brief: objectives, target, sample size, nationality quotas, gender split, method, languages and deadline.
• Ask who does the fieldwork: own interviewers or subcontractors, which languages they cover and whether female interviewers are available.
• Ask how Emiratis, women and lower-income workers will be recruited, and how nationality quotas are verified.
• For focus groups, ask for the venue, viewing and streaming options, moderator languages and incentive levels.
• Compare several proposals: you can send one request to up to 5 Dubai companies from this page.

National rules (data protection, holidays, sampling across regions) are covered in our guide to market research in the United Arab Emirates.