The seven emirates explained: is Dubai a country?

The short answer

Dubai is not a country. It is one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates, and the UAE Government portal's Dubai page says that Dubai city is the capital of that emirate.[8] The country is the UAE, which the portal's fact sheet describes as a constitutional federation of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi city as its capital.[2]

So "Dubai" names two things at once: an emirate, one of the seven that make up the federation, and the city that is its capital. The portal's emirate pages also name cities called Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah, but they do not call each of those cities a capital (see the disagreements below). When XTOUR says Dubai or Abu Dhabi, it means the city.

The seven emirates

The portal lists the seven as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah. It ranks them by size: Abu Dhabi the largest, Dubai the second largest, Sharjah the third, Ras Al Khaimah the fourth, Umm Al Quwain the second smallest and Ajman the smallest.[1]

The areas in that table come from the portal's individual emirate pages: 67,340 sq km for Abu Dhabi,[7] 4,114 for Dubai,[8] 2,590 for Sharjah,[9] about 260 for Ajman,[10] about 720 for Umm Al Quwain,[11] 1,684 for Ras Al Khaimah[12] and 1,580 for Fujairah.[13] The fact sheet gives the whole country as approximately 83,600 sq km.[2] XTOUR leaves population out of the table on purpose: the portal's figures come from different years, from a December 2005 census for Umm Al Quwain[11] to mid-2024 for Fujairah,[13] so they cannot be compared side by side.

How the federation works

According to the portal's political-system page, the UAE was established as a constitutional federation in December 1971, and Ras Al Khaimah acceded to it in February 1972.[3] The fact sheet dates the establishment to 2 December 1971,[2] the date the public-holidays page gives for National Day, which it says marks the start of the federal unification of the emirates.[6] The portal's history page records the step before that: on 18 July 1971 the Rulers of six of the seven emirates, all except Ras Al Khaimah, decided to form a union.[5]

Power is split between the federation and the emirates. The local-government page quotes Article 122 of the Constitution: the emirates have jurisdiction in all matters not assigned to the exclusive jurisdiction of the federation. Each emirate has its own Ruler and Crown Prince, and an executive council working under the supervision of its Ruler's Court.[4] At federal level the fact sheet names five authorities under the Constitution: the Supreme Council, the President and Vice-President, the Cabinet, the Federal National Council and the Federal Judiciary.[2]

Two federal offices are held by the Rulers of the two largest emirates. The fact sheet names the President of the UAE as Ruler of Abu Dhabi,[2] and the portal's Dubai page names the Ruler of Dubai as Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE.[8] Citizenship is not split: the fact sheet says all UAE citizens in the seven emirates carry the unified nationality of the UAE.[2]

When the emirate and the city are not the same place

An emirate can be far larger than the city that shares its name, and can lie in more than one piece. The portal's Abu Dhabi page divides that emirate into three regions, the city of Abu Dhabi, Al Ain in the east and Al Dhafra in the west, and lists Liwa among Al Dhafra's seven main cities.[7] Al Ain is therefore in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi but is not part of Abu Dhabi city; the emirate's regions are explained in Abu Dhabi's three regions.

The Emirate of Dubai includes the Hatta region, whose wadis the portal's Dubai page mentions, as well as Dubai city.[8] XTOUR treats Hatta as its own destination for that reason.

Sharjah is the clearest case. The portal calls it the only emirate on both coasts, the Arabian Gulf in the west and the Gulf of Oman in the east, and names Khorfakkan, Kalba, Dibba Al Hisn, Al Dhaid and Al Badayer among its towns and areas.[9] The local-government page adds that Sharjah has three enclaves on the country's east coast, with branches of the Emiri Diwan (Court) headed by deputy chairmen in Kalba and Khor Fakkan.[4] Khor Fakkan and Kalba are in the Emirate of Sharjah but are not part of Sharjah city. Dibba, the Sharjah page says, is a set of three villages split between Oman, Fujairah and Sharjah.[9]

Ajman's main cities, in the portal's account, are Ajman city, Al Manamah and Masfout.[10] Ras Al Khaimah's page names the city of Ras Al Khaimah as the capital and lists Al Jazirah Al Hamra, Digdaga, Khatt and Masafi as other key towns.[12] None of those towns is in Ras Al Khaimah city by virtue of being in the emirate.

Where the portal's own pages disagree

The portal is the federal government's reference, but its pages are written by different bodies at different times, and they do not always agree.

• Is Abu Dhabi the emirate or the city? The seven-emirates overview says Abu Dhabi "is the federal capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the home of government" and, in the next sentence, "the largest emirate in the UAE", using one name for both.[1] The fact sheet is precise: "Abu Dhabi city is the capital of the UAE".[2] XTOUR follows the fact sheet.
• Who reaches the Indian Ocean? The Fujairah page says Fujairah is "the UAE's only access to the Indian Ocean".[13] The Sharjah page says Sharjah's eastern coast is on "the Gulf of Oman (Indian Ocean)".[9] The overview and the Fujairah page both say Fujairah is the only emirate located completely on the eastern coast,[1][13] and the Sharjah page calls Sharjah the only emirate on both coasts;[9] the Fujairah and Sharjah pages disagree on whether any emirate other than Fujairah has an Indian Ocean coast.
• Fujairah's population. The Fujairah page's summary line gives 202,667 as of 2014, and its body gives 314,829 in mid-2024.[13] The figures are ten years apart, not a contradiction about one date, but the overview repeats only the older one.[1]
• Capitals that are not named. The Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah pages each call a city "the capital of the emirate",[12][8] while the Sharjah and Fujairah pages name no capital, and the Ajman and Umm Al Quwain pages describe Ajman city and the city of Umm Al Quwain without using the word.[11][10][13][9] The Abu Dhabi pages, likewise, call Abu Dhabi the capital of the UAE rather than of the emirate.[2][7] XTOUR does not fill these gaps from elsewhere.

What XTOUR does not cover here

This article explains names and structure, not travel between emirates. XTOUR publishes no travel times or border information, and it does not describe federal or local law. To choose a base, start from the UAE travel guide to emirates and bases or the UAE country page.