Retirement

Retirement is a process, not a day. Most retirees keep their wellbeing steady, and many who dip at first recover. People who plan, choose their own timing, keep their social groups and find a purpose fare best. In the UAE, residents aged 55 and over can apply for a five year retirement visa.

What the report found

1. The UAE gives retirement a clear frame. Residents aged 55 and over can apply for a five year retirement visa. End of service gratuity, a voluntary workplace savings scheme and a federal pension law for Emiratis support the years after work, and Dubai backs retirees who want to start projects.
2. The decision when to stop is shaped by push, pull and a reference age. Health, strain and changes at work push; interests and family pull; an official age acts as an anchor. People who choose the timing themselves report higher life satisfaction afterwards.
3. Planning pays. People who plan reach retirement with more wealth. A plan that committed future pay rises to saving lifted average saving rates from 3.5 to 13.6 per cent, and talking retirement through at home was linked to greater wellbeing years later.
4. Most people adjust well. In one large study, about seven in ten retirees showed little change in wellbeing and about a quarter dipped at first and then recovered. Keeping what continues from working life, and giving the week a new shape, helps.
5. Purpose, people and habits make the years good. Retirees who kept their social groups, volunteered, found a sense of purpose or took on bridge work fared better, and many sleep and move more. Researchers still discuss how much of this the activities themselves cause.

What is inside

1. The moment
2. Before: the decision and the plan
3. During: the first year
4. After: purpose, people and health
5. How the moment is lived across the Gulf
6. What lasts

Plus a phase map of the moment, an illustrated first year of retirement, a table of six retirement paths and a data panel of UAE and Gulf figures.

Who it is for

For people approaching retirement and their families, and for employers, services and public bodies in the UAE and the Gulf.

How we work

Moment Reports look at how people think and decide at particular points in the year or in life, starting with the UAE and then the wider Gulf. Every claim is graded Established, Emerging or Untested, and where researchers disagree, both sides are set out before we say where we stand.

Cite this report

The Why We Project (2026) Retirement: Leaving work and starting a new chapter. Moment Report No. 18. Dubai: Why We Tech Ltd. Available at: thewhyweproject.com