BCG Survey Highlights Strong Citizen Satisfaction with Qatar’s Digital Government Services and Opportunities for AI-Driven Transformation
- Qatar appears in the top ten countries for government digital service satisfaction, with 87% of citizens rating services highly
- Qatar’s government digital service usage stands at 40%, reinforcing the positive advancement of its digital government ecosystem and the potential for growth
- AI engagement is high, with 85% of Qatar citizens using AI weekly
- GCC is the world’s most AI-receptive surveyed region, with 79% open to AI-centered government interactions versus 66% globally
Akram Awad – BCG
Doha, Qatar, 28 October 2026 — Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) sixth biennial edition of its Digital Government Citizen Survey Report, titled “After a Decade of Digital Gains AI Is Reshaping Citizens’ Expectations in the GCC” highlights positive citizen perceptions of digital government services in Qatar, with 87% of respondents reporting satisfaction, providing a testament of positive advancement and a strong foundation for continued improvements in service delivery. The findings reflect positive perceptions of digital government services, while highlighting opportunities to further enhance service quality, accessibility, and user experience.
Haidar Ammar – BCG
The survey, conducted across 44 countries, highlights Qatar as one of the emerging digital & AI enabled nations globally, with government digital service usage at 40%. In addition, 68% of Qatar respondents rated their government digital service experience more positively than their typical private-sector interactions, reflecting favorable digital government experiences as a conducive baseline for further growth and improvement. The data spotlights residents’ rising receptiveness to AI, highlighting an opportunity for Qatar to build on its existing digital foundations by expanding automation and AI-enabled services to deliver more seamless, personalized, and efficient citizen experiences.
On the adoption front, 85% of Qatar respondents reported using AI weekly while 31% reported they’re comfortable with enabling AI for all government services. High levels of usage are accompanied by relatively positive attitudes toward AI in government, with 46% of Qatar respondents believing its benefits outweigh the risks, compared with 49% across the GCC and 36% globally. At the same time, greater exposure to AI is bringing a broader set of considerations into focus for citizens. While GCC citizens remain more optimistic about AI in government than their global peers, overall optimism has declined by 21% since 2024.
This evolution points toward a more hybrid model of service delivery. GCC citizens increasingly favor AI for simpler services while retaining human involvement for more complex interactions, which assures a shift that reflects greater awareness of both the opportunities and considerations associated with AI. At the same time, only around 4% of GCC respondents prefer human-only services with no AI support, compared with almost one in ten globally.
“Qatar has already cultivated the foundational trust and receptiveness, arguably the most critical prerequisite before scaling AI-driven experiences. The fact that many Qatar residents perceive government digital services positively provides an encouraging foundation for further improvement, with opportunities to enhance service quality and expand AI integration in ways that strengthen citizen confidence,” said Dr. Akram Awad, Managing Director & Partner at BCG. “The opportunity now lies in strategically deploying AI where it demonstrably enhances efficiency and personalization, while preserving human expertise for the complex, high-stakes interactions that residents still expect to be handled with judgment, empathy, and accountability.”
GCC Citizens Embrace the Next Generation of AI-Enabled Services
The BCG report also reveals strong appetite among GCC citizens for the next generation of AI-enabled government services. The region is the most AI-receptive globally, with 79% of citizens open to AI-centered government interactions, compared with 66% globally. Notably, three of the four most strongly supported AI applications in government are agentic use cases, signaling a healthy launchpad for governments to explore services that can move beyond providing information to supporting or completing actions on citizens’ behalf.
This openness is already evident across practical applications: 82% are comfortable with AI providing 24/7 access to information and services; 81% with AI supporting government customer-service agents; 79% with AI detecting fraud and automatically following up; and 78% with AI identifying services citizens qualify for and acting on their behalf. Yet citizens are not calling for AI alone. Preference for “AI for simple services, people for complex ones” has risen nine percentage points to 50% over the past two years, reinforcing a hybrid model that combines AI-enabled speed and availability with human judgment for more complex or higher-stakes interactions.
This opportunity builds on a strong track record in digital government service quality. In 2026, the GCC remained the only surveyed region where most citizens rated government digital services above those of the private sector, at 72%. However, private-sector experiences are gaining ground: the net share of GCC respondents rating government services above private-sector services declined from 75% in 2024 to 69% in 2026. The shift creates both a learning opportunity and an impetus for governments to continue innovating as citizen expectations evolve.
As governments move toward more advanced AI-enabled services, citizen AI literacy will be equally important. GCC respondents with expert-level AI proficiency are around four times more likely than those without AI experience to believe that the benefits of AI in government outweigh the risks. At the same time, greater familiarity with AI is sharpening citizens’ expectations around how it is deployed. Job loss (33%) and accuracy (28%) now rank as the leading concerns, underscoring the importance of pairing AI literacy with safeguards that are visible and relevant to citizens.
“The GCC has a strong opportunity to translate its digital leadership into the next generation of AI-enabled government services,” said Haidar Ammar, Managing Director & Partner, BCG. “As citizens become more familiar with AI, building literacy and trust will be critical to sustained adoption. The priority is to expand AI and agentic capabilities where they add value, while preserving human judgment and responsible safeguards. For Qatar, the next phase is about moving beyond digital convenience toward AI-enabled services that anticipate citizens’ needs, simplify everyday interactions, and contribute to a better quality of life.”
Six Priorities for the Next Generation of Digital Government
To build on the region’s digital progress and maximize the potential of AI in government services, BCG’s report outlines six priorities for GCC governments:
- Rethink core services with AI, redesigning them end to end rather than layering AI onto existing processes.
- Learn from private-sector innovation as digital experiences improve and citizen expectations evolve.
- Embed responsible AI through governance, testing, and safeguards that strengthen citizen trust.
- Build the hybrid model citizens want, using AI for simpler interactions while retaining human expertise for complex or high-stakes needs.
- Expand agentic AI services beyond information toward services that can support complete journeys and act on citizens’ behalf.
- Advance AI literacy to build citizen understanding, confidence, and informed adoption.
Together, these priorities can help GCC governments build on a decade of digital progress and translate citizens’ openness to AI into the next generation of public services. Strong digital foundations with responsible AI adoption and continued access to human expertise will support the region to deliver services that are more proactive, personalized, and responsive to citizens’ evolving needs, while sustaining the trust that will be critical to long-term adoption.
To access the full BCG Digital Government Citizen Survey 2026, visit the link here.
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