Dubai, October 21, 2025

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar emerge as “Innovation Futurists” according to Roland Berger’s Future of Health 7: The Healthcare Systems of the Future study. Roland Berger’s study surveyed over 5,200 respondents across 25 countries to understand what ordinary citizens want from their health systems.

The survey demonstrated several commonalities between preferences of citizens in the GCC and those around the world. The results underline the importance that health plays in the preferences of citizens, where globally, and in the GCC, it was identified as the most important priority for both governmental and individual spending.

The vast majority (75%) of citizens globally, including the three countries in the GCC, voiced their preference for the health system to take a preventive approach to illness, rather than only reacting to symptoms once they appear. In line with this, the GCC nations covered echoed the global preference (70%) for a focus on lifestyle interventions rather than medical interventions.

Similarly, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar shared the global preference for equity in access to healthcare. Respondents preferred a health system that provided equal access to healthcare for all, irrespective of financial means of each patient. When asked how health systems should mitigate the rising cost of healthcare, all respondents prioritized reducing inefficiencies in expenditure.

A striking finding from the study is the future-forward inclination of populations in the GCC. In contrast to views from other surveyed countries, the region stands out for its openness to innovation and technological advancements, reflecting and reinforcing the ambitious transformation agendas of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, the “We the UAE 2031” Strategy as well as the Qatar’s Third National Development Strategy (NDS-3) 2024–2030 and its related National Health Strategy 3 (NHS-3).

When asked whether citizens would embrace AI-driven tools for convenience and efficiency in interacting with the health system or whether they would prioritize direct human contact, GCC countries topped the study in terms of AI openness, with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE ranking 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, respectively, among the 25 countries surveyed. Notably, residents in the three GCC countries covered were more than twice as likely to embrace AI-driven tools compared to other leading health systems such as the USA, the UK, and Germany, which show significantly higher preferences for direct human contact in patient interactions.

In terms of willingness to adopt innovation, GCC once again led in their future-forward orientation. Saudi Arabia ranked 1st and the UAE 3rd in preference for patients having early access to novel treatments, while Saudi Arabia ranked 1st and Qatar 2nd in support for the overall health system to be an early adopter of innovative therapies, aligning with the strong regional drive for research, development, and innovation of new therapies across each health system.

As health systems in the GCC and around the world look to the future, they will need to address challenges that are already exerting pressure on systems, including demographic changes, the rise of non-communicable diseases and financial constraints. To be successful, health systems will need to manage the different levers of high-performing health systems (i.e., equity, coordination, digitalization, public health, resources, governance, and innovation) while balancing their strategic priorities as well as the preferences and values of their populations.

Sara Barada , Healthcare Leader at Roland Berger Middle East, said: “The leadership and appetite for innovation in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar are a unique differentiator of the region. Countries in the region have the opportunity to use innovation as one of the key levers to respond to challenges of the health systems of today and to build high-performing, high-value health systems of the future - those that excel in health equity, health outcomes, and sustainable use of resources, and respond to their populations’ needs and priorities.”

Download the full report here: Future of health 7

About Roland Berger

Roland Berger is one of the world's leading strategy consultancies with a wide-ranging service portfolio for all relevant industries and business functions. Founded in 1967, Roland Berger is headquartered in Munich. Renowned for its expertise in transformation, innovation across all industries and performance improvement, the consultancy has set itself the goal of embedding sustainability in all its projects. Roland Berger generated revenues of around 1 billion euros in 2024.