Ranked: countries with the fastest internet in the world 2023

The countries with the fastest internet in the world have been announced for the year. Read our insights and browse the rankings below

Liechtenstein has the fastest internet in the world, followed by the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Macao, Iceland, Andorra and Luxembourg. The USA is ranked 10th and the UK is 29th. Afghanistan has the world’s slowest internet.

Internet comparison site Cable has ranked the countries with the fastest broadband internet in the world based on over 1.1 billion speed tests across over 200 countries and territories. It is the fifth year of the assessment and the latest ranking uses data collected in the 12 months up to 30 June 2023 to evaluate internet speed by country.

If you’re one of the millions of people working in a remote job or pursuing a career as a digital nomad, then internet speed is one of the important factors in your choice of destination. A slow connection affects not only your ability to work from home but also your entertainment options. While there are ways to speed up your internet, essentially it comes down to the internet service provider (ISP) in your country.

Key headlines

• The global average broadband internet speed is 45.6Mbps (megabits per second).
• Liechtenstein has the fastest broadband in the world with an average speed of 246.76Mbps.
• Afghanistan has the slowest broadband in the world with an average speed of just 1.71Mbps.
• 32 of the 50 fastest countries are located in Europe, with seven in Asia, six in North America, three in South America, one in Oceania and one in the Middle East.
• By contrast, 32 of the 50 slowest-performing countries are located in Africa.
• 48 countries or territories have average speeds below 10Mbps, a speed deemed by UK telecoms watchdog Ofcom to be the minimum required to cope with the demands of a typical family or small business.

The internet is getting faster, but…

The average global internet speed is getting faster with the global average increasing by 30.04% from 34.79Mbps in 2022 to 45.6Mbps in 2023.

However, it is worth noting that the countries contributing the most to this rise are those in developed nations that have established infrastructure and can therefore roll out the latest technology available.

Year	Mbps	Change: Mbps	Change: %
2023	46.79	7.41	30.04%
2022	35.98	6.19	20.78%
2021	29.79	4.96	19.98%
2020	24.83	13.8	125.11%
2019	11.03	1.89	20.68%
2018	9.14	1.73	23.35%
2017	7.41	–

Comparatively, there is far less development – and therefore less change in availability, rollout and uptake of faster infrastructure – in the bottom half of the ranking compared with the top half.

Generally speaking, the countries with the fastest internet speeds are likely to be smaller and more developed. The larger and less developed a nation is, the slower the internet will likely be.

When it comes to the size of a nation, it is generally much easier to roll out FTTP full-fibre broadband and 5G mobile internet to a smaller population and/or across a smaller area.

Region by region

Unsurprisingly, Europe has the world’s highest concentration of countries with the fastest internet. Seven of the top 10 countries with the fastest internet are in Europe. Liechtenstein has the fastest broadband in Europe and the world an average speed of 246.76Mbps.

Iceland (3), Andorra (4), Luxembourg (5) and France (7) are not too far behind. The UK (29) has Europe’s 20th fastest internet with an average speed of 93.63Mbps.

In Asia, Macau (2) has the fastest internet with Taiwan (6), Japan (15), Singapore (20) and South Korea (28) all performing well.

The US (10) has the fastest broadband in the Americas with an average speed of 136.48Mbps. Canada (11) is the region’s second-fastest with Barbados and Grenada in third and fourth respectively. Cuba (183) has the slowest internet in the Americas.

“Europe continues to dominate the global league table, extending its lead over much of the world as FTTP full fibre continues to make an increasingly large dent in consumer uptake.”

– Dan Howdle, Cable

Africa is some distance behind the rest of the world when it comes to broadband provision. Thirty-two of the 50 slowest countries in the world are located in Africa. Rwanda (82) has the fastest internet in Africa followed by South Africa (86), Burkina Faso (89) and Mauritius (97).

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Rank	Country	Mbps
1	Liechtenstein	246.76
2	Macau	231.40
3	Iceland	229.35
4	Andorra	190.40
5	Luxembourg	162.21
6	Taiwan	153.51
7	France	152.45
8	Netherlands	142.49
9	Slovakia	138.03
10	USA	136.48
11	Canada	136.08
12	Spain	133.66
13	San Marino	126.88
14	Monaco	126.30
15	Japan	124.70
16	Malta	123.85
17	Uruguay	111.46
18	Portugal	106.53
19	Belgium	102.33
20	Singapore	101.75
21	Norway	101.66
22	Romania	100.66
23	North Macedonia	97.88
24	New Zealand	97.09
25	Slovenia	97.00
26	Sweden	94.30
27	Poland	94.10
28	South Korea	94.00
29	UK	93.63
30	Barbados	93.50
31	Moldova	92.10
32	Lithuania	87.09
33	Estonia	86.39
34	Chile	85.49
35	Hong Kong	83.05
36	Germany	81.73
37	Ireland	76.16
38	Switzerland	75.39
39	Grenada	75.21
40	Israel	75.03
41	Brazil	72.70
42	Latvia	66.79
43	Dominica	66.24
44	Vatican City	65.46
45	Hungary	63.41
46	Finland	62.82
47	Thailand	62.75
48	Serbia	60.53
49	The Bahamas	58.95
50	Italy	58.22
51	Russia	57.95
52	St Vincent & Gren.	57.71
53	Kosovo	57.32
54	Panama	56.93
55	Trinidad & Tobago	56.08
56	Austria	55.82
57	Greece	53.85
58	Australia	51.27
59	Qatar	50.68
60	Denmark	49.98
61	Montenegro	49.46
62	India	47.99
63	Bahrain	47.72
64	St Kitts & Nevis	47.27
65	Czech Republic	46.81
66	Guadeloupe	45.93
67	Colombia	45.13
68	Jamaica	45.07
69	Bosnia & Herz.	44.01
70	St Lucia	43.86
71	UAE	43.62
72	Philippines	43.36
73	Argentina	43.02
74	Cyprus	42.93
75	Paraguay	42.76
76	Costa Rica	42.51
77	Malaysia	42.20
78	Greenland	41.19
79	Peru	41.04
80	Kuwait	41.02
81	Bulgaria	40.43
82	Rwanda	39.89
83	Belize	38.86
84	Ukraine	38.13
85	Marshall Islands	36.89
86	South Africa	36.46
87	Mexico	35.85
88	New Caledonia	35.72
89	Burkina Faso	35.64
90	Belarus	34.10
91	Armenia	33.63
92	Jordan	33.63
93	Oman	32.61
94	Saudi Arabia	32.42
95	Brunei	32.07
96	Guyana	31.45
97	Mauritius	29.78
98	Vietnam	29.25
99	Anguilla	29.15
100	Antigua & Barbuda	27.03
101	Ecuador	26.56
102	Croatia	25.72
103	Albania	25.36
104	Nicaragua	25.28
105	Turkey	24.84
106	El Salvador	23.56
107	Guatemala	23.26
108	Uzbekistan	21.67
109	Sri Lanka	21.23
110	Nigeria	20.83
111	Madagascar	20.43
112	Bhutan	20.08
113	Nepal	19.99
114	Dominican Rep.	19.48
115	Seychelles	18.75
116	Georgia	18.54
117	Laos	17.64
118	Kyrgyzstan	17.31
119	Honduras	16.76
120	Morocco	16.49
121	Ivory Coast	16.45
122	Mongolia	16.40
123	Bolivia	16.00
124	Cambodia	14.68
125	Congo	14.36
126	Indonesia	14.30
127	Fiji	13.96
128	Iran	13.93
129	Kazakhstan	13.13
130	China	12.66
131	Uganda	12.64
132	Maldives	12.49
133	Suriname	12.48
134	Kenya	12.46
135	Ghana	12.33
136	Tanzania	11.92
137	Lesotho	11.75
138	Palestine	11.59
139	Cape Verde	11.49
140	Gabon	11.22
141	Mozambique	11.06
142	Venezuela	10.92
143	Namibia	10.80
144	Haiti	10.75
145	Azerbaijan	10.20
146	Egypt	9.75
147	Botswana	9.61
148	Tunisia	9.60
149	Solomon Islands	9.51
150	Iraq	9.37
151	Senegal	9.22
152	Zimbabwe	9.18
153	Angola	9.13
154	Benin	9.12
155	Myanmar	9.02
156	Mauritania	8.95
157	Togo	8.90
158	Papua New Guinea	8.75
159	Guinea	8.50
160	Malawi	8.26
161	Algeria	7.73
162	Mali	7.56
163	Sierra Leone	7.00
164	Vanuatu	6.57
165	Lebanon	6.55
166	Zambia	6.53
167	São Tomé & Prín.	6.52
168	Bangladesh	6.41
169	Libya	6.32
170	Chad	5.83
171	Eswatini	5.76
172	Liberia	5.60
173	Niger	5.50
174	Pakistan	5.32
175	Sudan	5.24
176	Guinea-Bissau	5.09
177	Somalia	5.00
178	Djibouti	4.66
179	DR Congo	4.62
180	Turkmenistan	4.49
181	The Gambia	4.35
182	Micronesia	4.25
183	Cuba	4.14
184	South Sudan	3.89
185	Burundi	3.70
186	Ethiopia	3.54
187	Cameroon	3.16
188	Tajikistan	2.98
189	Equatorial Guinea	2.70
190	East Timor	2.50
191	Syria	2.30
192	Yemen	1.79
193	Afghanistan	1.71

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