Mapped: The World’s Fastest (and Slowest) Internet Speeds

How quickly did this page load for you?

The answer depends on the device you’re using, and where in the world you’re located. Average internet speeds vary wildly from country to country.

Which countries have the fastest internet connection? Using data from the Speedtest Global Index, this map ranks the fastest (and slowest) internet speeds worldwide, comparing both fixed broadband and mobile.

What Factors Affect Internet Speed?

Before diving in, it’s important to understand the key factors that impact a country’s internet speed. Generally speaking, internet speed depends on:

1. Infrastructure or the type of cabling (copper or fiber-optic) that a country’s utilizing to support their internet service. Typically, the newer the infrastructure, the faster the connection.
2. Proximity/connection to submarine cables is important, as these massive undersea fiber-optic cables transmit about 97% of the world’s communication data.
3. The size of a country, since landmass affects how much it costs to upgrade infrastructure. The smaller the country, the cheaper it is to upgrade cabling.
4. Investment makes a difference, or how much a country’s government prioritizes internet accessibility.

Of course, other factors may influence a country’s internet speed too, such as government regulation and intentional bandwidth throttling, which is the case in countries like Turkmenistan.

Ranked: Fixed Broadband Internet Speeds

The Speedtest Global Index uses data from hundreds of millions of people, in more than 190 countries, to measure both fixed broadband and mobile connections.

When it comes to the fastest fixed broadband, Singapore comes in first place, with a download speed of 262.2 mbps—more than double the global average.

#	Country	Global Speed (Mbps)
1	Singapore	262.2
2	Hong Kong	254.4
3	Monaco	242.9
4	Switzerland	222.0
5	Thailand	221.0
6	Romania	217.9
7	South Korea	216.7
8	Denmark	216.13
9	Chile	209.8
10	France	201.6
11	Hungary	201.55
12	United States	199
13	United Arab Emirates	195.11
14	Liechtenstein	194.77
15	China	193.15
16	Spain	187.36
17	Japan	180.35
18	Canada	176.46
19	Luxembourg	173.16
20	Macau (SAR)	170.84
21	Sweden	167.29
22	Israel	164.24
23	New Zealand	164.16
24	Netherlands	161.85
25	Norway	161.61
26	Taiwan	152
27	Poland	147.45
28	Portugal	145.96
29	Andorra	145.18
30	Malta	142.07
31	Kuwait	141.42
32	Moldova	139.61
33	Lithuania	135.65
34	Latvia	133.91
35	Panama	131.35
36	Finland	131.02
37	Germany	130.76
38	Belgium	121.81
39	Ireland	117.4
40	San Marino	114.24
41	Slovenia	111.74
42	Barbados	110.25
43	Qatar	109.57
44	Brazil	108.88
45	Slovakia	106.12
46	Malaysia	103.28
47	United Kingdom	95.79
48	Italy	94.3
49	Austria	93.77
50	Russia	93.37
51	Saudi Arabia	91.65
52	Trinidad and Tobago	87.42
53	Czechia	86.29
54	Australia	85.57
55	Estonia	82.82
56	Jordan	82.44
57	Serbia	80.59
58	Bulgaria	79.19
59	Vietnam	75.3
60	Bahrain	74.21
61	Ukraine	73.89
62	Paraguay	72.94
63	Philippines	72.56
64	Belarus	68.84
65	Colombia	68.44
66	Oman	65.3
67	Guyana	63.2
68	India	62.45
69	Uruguay	61.23
70	Kazakhstan	61.05
71	Kosovo	60.86
72	Peru	57.97
73	Argentina	57.49
74	Costa Rica	57.27
75	Grenada	56.44
76	The Bahamas	55.89
77	Croatia	55.36
78	South Africa	53.6
79	Mexico	53.04
80	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	50.8
81	Mongolia	50.52
82	Cyprus	50.45
83	Ghana	49.55
84	Saint Lucia	49.5
85	Kyrgyzstan	47.91
86	Montenegro	47.39
87	Laos	47.01
88	Madagascar	45.98
89	Egypt	44.09
90	Bosnia and Herzegovina	43.1
91	Marshall Islands	42.6
92	Albania	41.47
93	Belize	41.45
94	Uzbekistan	40.64
95	Turkey	40.58
96	Jamaica	40
97	Bangladesh	38.98
98	North Macedonia	38.84
99	Ecuador	37.53
100	Armenia	37.21
101	Côte d’Ivoire	35.41
102	Greece	35.03
103	Senegal	34.68
104	Dominica	34.42
105	Brunei	33.94
106	Tajikistan	33.85
107	Seychelles	33.27
108	Iraq	33.13
109	Saint Kitts and Nevis	32.78
110	Dominican Republic	31.85
111	Nepal	30.49
112	Nicaragua	30.26
113	Bolivia	27.06
114	Indonesia	26.95
115	Georgia	26.73
116	El Salvador	26.41
117	Morocco	26.4
118	Honduras	26.17
119	Sri Lanka	26.05
120	Cambodia	25.82
121	Liberia	25.65
122	Lesotho	25.59
123	Burkina Faso	25.52
124	Azerbaijan	25.36
125	Palestine	25.02
126	Congo (Brazzaville)	24.12
127	Mauritius	23.87
128	Western Sahara	23.84
129	Guatemala	23.82
130	Cape Verde	23.78
131	Maldives	23.72
132	Venezuela	22.33
133	Bhutan	21.79
134	Iran	21.35
135	Fiji	21.28
136	Gabon	20.62
137	Togo	20.61
138	Mali	19.99
139	Republic of the Union of Myanmar	19.78
140	Rwanda	18.45
141	Namibia	18.16
142	Nigeria	18.15
143	Tanzania	17.93
144	Djibouti	17.75
145	Kenya	17.41
146	Antigua and Barbuda	17.11
147	Lebanon	16.9
148	Benin	16.81
149	Cameroon	16.6
150	Micronesia	16.56
151	Libya	16.53
152	Papua New Guinea	16.4
153	Vanuatu	15.44
154	Angola	15.04
155	Haiti	14.93
156	Suriname	14.93
157	Zimbabwe	14.86
158	Somalia	14.66
159	Uganda	14.62
160	Ethiopia	14.44
161	Malawi	13.72
162	Pakistan	13.5
163	Equatorial Guinea	12.17
164	Sierra Leone	12.13
165	DR Congo	11.46
166	Mauritania	11.08
167	Syria	10.73
168	Zambia	10.69
169	Swaziland (Eswatini)	10.62
170	Botswana	10.35
171	Tunisia	10.3
172	The Gambia	10.09
173	Algeria	9.95
174	Burundi	9.72
175	Afghanistan	9.23
176	Sudan	9.02
177	Mozambique	8.84
178	Yemen	5.95
179	Turkmenistan	4.49
180	Cuba	3.46

Size could be a factor in Singapore’s speedy internet, as it’s one of the smallest
and also densest countries in the world. With a landmass of just 280 square miles, it’s around the same size as Austin, Texas.

The country’s government has also prioritized investment in digital infrastructure, especially in recent years. In 2020, the Singaporean government promised to invest $2.52 billion towards digital innovation, with a portion dedicated to upgrading the country’s telecom infrastructure.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Cuba has the slowest fixed broadband, with a speed of 3.46 mbps. Along with poor government funding, Cuba also has limited access to submarine cables. While most countries are connected to several, Cuba is only connected to one.

Ranked: Mobile Internet Speeds

Mobile internet uses cell towers to wirelessly transmit internet to your phone. Because of this extra element, the ranking for mobile internet speeds varies from fixed broadband.

#	Country	Global Speed (Mbps)
1	United Arab Emirates	195.52
2	South Korea	192.16
3	Norway	173.54
4	Qatar	169.17
5	China	163.45
6	Saudi Arabia	149.95
7	Kuwait	141.46
8	Cyprus	136.18
9	Australia	126.97
10	Bulgaria	126.21
11	Switzerland	115.83
12	Luxembourg	110.67
13	Denmark	103.35
14	Netherlands	100.48
15	Oman	97.81
16	Sweden	97.06
17	United States	96.31
18	Singapore	91.75
19	Canada	87.65
20	Finland	83.01
21	Bahrain	81.54
22	Taiwan	81.32
23	United Kingdom	80.82
24	Croatia	78.91
25	Hong Kong	78.75
26	Germany	75.67
27	New Zealand	73.17
28	France	72.47
29	Greece	70.71
30	Estonia	70.44
31	Belgium	70.24
32	Austria	66.38
33	Lithuania	63.03
34	Macau (SAR)	62.43
35	Malta	62.1
36	Brunei	61.85
37	Japan	61.32
38	Hungary	58.9
39	Czechia	58.46
40	Maldives	58.3
41	Slovenia	57.52
42	North Macedonia	57.37
43	Romania	55.93
44	Ireland	55.39
45	Poland	52.28
46	Slovakia	51.49
47	South Africa	50.44
48	Serbia	50.34
49	Albania	49.82
50	Thailand	49.37
51	Spain	48.14
52	Italy	47.51
53	Turkey	47.43
54	Israel	46.02
55	Latvia	45.29
56	Portugal	43.41
57	Vietnam	41.16
58	Moldova	40.64
59	Togo	40.32
60	Iraq	40.21
61	Suriname	39.54
62	Azerbaijan	39.25
63	Uruguay	39.04
64	Mali	38.84
65	Morocco	37.63
66	Trinidad and Tobago	37.54
67	Jamaica	36.77
68	Georgia	36.53
69	Botswana	35.38
70	Bosnia and Herzegovina	34.97
71	Mexico	34.49
72	Costa Rica	34.39
73	Philippines	33.77
74	Armenia	33.71
75	Brazil	33.47
76	Mauritius	33.32
77	Tunisia	33.01
78	The Bahamas	32.63
79	Cameroon	32.46
80	Iran	32.3
81	Lebanon	32.06
82	Laos	32.04
83	Kazakhstan	31.81
84	Ukraine	31.2
85	Dominican Republic	31.07
86	Guatemala	30
87	Argentina	29.6
88	Montenegro	29.14
89	Malaysia	29.14
90	Honduras	28.69
91	Kosovo	28.5
92	Russia	28.16
93	Republic of the Union of Myanmar	27.94
94	Jordan	26.51
95	Fiji	26.45
96	Nicaragua	26
97	Peru	25.46
98	Cuba	25.21
99	El Salvador	25.17
100	Ecuador	24.98
101	Kyrgyzstan	24.95
102	Egypt	24.48
103	Angola	23.98
104	Cambodia	23.71
105	Nigeria	23.59
106	Ethiopia	23.19
107	Bolivia	23.17
108	Mongolia	23.11
109	Haiti	22.52
110	Senegal	22.48
111	Kenya	22.22
112	Indonesia	21.96
113	Chile	21.28
114	Nepal	20.9
115	Paraguay	20.8
116	Namibia	20.74
117	Mozambique	20.55
118	Panama	20.44
119	Syria	20.09
120	Pakistan	19.79
121	Uganda	18.97
122	Uzbekistan	18.92
123	Colombia	18.67
124	Belarus	18.66
125	Côte d’Ivoire	18.37
126	India	17.96
127	Algeria	17.31
128	Libya	17.22
129	Zambia	16.05
130	Sri Lanka	16.02
131	Tajikistan	15.7
132	Sudan	15.66
133	Tanzania	14.48
134	Somalia	14.23
135	Zimbabwe	13.71
136	Ghana	13.17
137	Bangladesh	12.92
138	Palestine	8.11
139	Venezuela	7.41
140	Afghanistan	7.07

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is first on the list, with a download speed of 195.5 mbps. Not only is mobile data fast in the UAE, it’s also relatively cheap, compared to other countries on the ranking. The average cost of 1 GB of data in the UAE is around $3.78, while in South Korea (#2 on the list) it’s $10.94.

The Future is 5G

Innovation and new technologies are changing the digital landscape, and things like 5G networks are becoming more mainstream across the globe.

Because of the rapidly changing nature of this industry, the data behind this ranking is updated monthly to provide the latest look at internet speeds across the globe.

This means the bar is gradually raising when it comes to internet speed, as faster, stronger internet connections become the norm. And countries that aren’t equipped to handle these souped-up networks will lag behind even further.

The post Mapped: The Fastest (and Slowest) Internet Speeds in the World appeared first on Visual Capitalist.