Eight Saudi cities featured in the 2026 IMD Smart City Index, published across 148 cities worldwide, with Riyadh advancing three positions to 24th globally, up from 27th in the previous edition.
Among other ranked Saudi cities, Makkah placed 50th, Jeddah 55th, Alkhobar 64th and Madinah 67th. AlUla recorded the most significant movement, rising from 112th to 85th — a jump of 27 places — reflecting the pace of development and tourism infrastructure investment in the heritage city. Hail and Hafr Al-Batin entered the index for the first time, ranking 33rd and 100th respectively.
The IMD index measures smart city performance based on residents’ perceptions of technology adoption, digital services and their impact on daily life rather than purely technical infrastructure metrics.
Editor’s Note: The breadth of Saudi representation — eight cities across the index, including two first-time entrants — reflects the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 smart city push extending well beyond Riyadh. AlUla’s jump is the most interesting data point: tourism megaproject investment is evidently translating into measurable resident-perceived digital quality of life, not just physical infrastructure. The index release coincides with Saudi Arabia’s Year of Artificial Intelligence 2026.
