The countries with the fastest internet in the world have been announced for 2019. Read our insights from the study and browse the rankings below
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.
Internet comparison site Cable has ranked the countries with the fastest broadband internet in the world based on over 267 million speed tests across 207 countries or territories.
It is the third year of the assessment and the latest ranking uses data collected in the 12 months up to 8th May 2019.
10 Countries with the fastest internet
Taiwan has the fastest broadband in the world with an average speed of 85.02Mbps.
1. Taiwan
2. Singapore
3. Jersey
4. Sweden
5. Denmark
6. Japan
7. Luxembourg
8. Netherlands
9. Switzerland
10. San Marino
10 Countries with the slowest internet
Yemen has the slowest broadband in the world with an average speed of just 0.38Mbps.
198. Djibouti
199. São Tomé & Prín.
200. Somalia
201. Ethiopia
202. Niger
203. Turkmenistan
204. Mauritania
205. Equatorial Guinea
206. Timor-Leste
207. Yemen
“With average broadband speeds rising by 20.65% in the last year the global picture looks rosy. But the truth is faster countries are the ones lifting the average, pulling away at speed and leaving the slowest to stagnate. Last year, we measured the slowest five countries at 88 times slower than the five fastest. This year they are 125 times slower.”
Dan Howdle, Cable
Key headlines
- The global average broadband internet speed is 11.03Mbps (megabits per second).
- Taiwan has the fastest broadband in the world overtaking Singapore with an average speed of 85.02Mbps.
- Yemen has the slowest broadband in the world with an average speed of just 0.38Mbps.
- It would take over 30 hours to download a 5GB movie file in Yemen while someone in Taiwan could do it in eight minutes.
- The five countries with the fastest internet have download speeds around 125 times faster than the five slowest.
- 37 of the 50 fastest countries are located in Europe, with 10 in Asia or Oceania (Asia-Pacific), two in North America and just one in Africa.
- 141 countries 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. The previous year produced a global average internet speed of 9.1Mbps. This year, the global average is 11.03Mbps – a rise of 20.65% (1.93Mbps).
However, it is worth noting that the countries contributing the most to this rise are those in developed nations which already have established infrastructure and can therefore roll out the latest technology available.
Comparatively, there is little development – and therefore little 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.
Region by region
Unsurprisingly, Europe has the world’s highest concentration of countries with the fastest internet. Jersey is Europe’s fastest jurisdiction, offering an average speed of 67.46Mbps. Sweden is Europe’s fastest country with an average speed of 55.18Mbps.
Denmark (5) and Luxembourg (7) are not far behind with average speeds of 43.99 and 40.12Mbps respectively. Of the 54 territories measured in Europe, only Turkey (102) and Armenia (110) are outside the top 100.
The UK is in 34th place, up one place and 3.8MBps faster than last year with an average speed of 22.37Mbps.
The majority of the quickest countries are clustered around Europe with most of the slowest countries in Africa.
The Asia-Pacific region is a more mixed bag with some of the fastest territories in the world – Taiwan (1) Singapore (2), Japan (6), New Zealand (17) and Hong Kong (19) – and some of the slowest: Timor-Leste (206), Turkmenistan (203), Tajikistan (192) and Afghanistan (184).
The US (15) has the fastest broadband in the Americas with an average speed of 32.89Mbps. Generally, Latin American countries are at the slower end of the regional scale. The Cayman Islands has the region’s fastest internet with an average speed of 16.12Mbps. Venezuela (183) has the slowest speeds in the Americas with an average speed of just 1.37Mbps.
“Europe and parts of Asia are dominating the leaderboard once again thanks to largely excellent infrastructure. In all cases, those countries ranking highest are those with a strong focus on pure fibre (FTTP) networks, with those countries dawdling too much on FTTC and ADSL solutions slipping further down year-on-year.”
Dan Howdle, Cable
Of the slowest countries for broadband, 12 are in the Arab States, 10 are in Asia & Pacific and three are in Latin America. Only UAE (67) and Bahrain (94) of the Arab States are not in the bottom 100.
Africa is some distance behind the rest of the world when it comes to broadband provision with 25 of the 50 slowest-performing countries in Africa. Madagascar is the fastest African nation in 33rd place with an average speed of 22.57Mbps.
Complete rankings
Sort the table below to view countries ranked by their average download speed in megabits per second (Mbps) and the typical download time (DT) for a 5GB movie. The ranking also includes changes from the previous year.
Some countries and territories have been excluded due to insufficient sample sizes.
| Rank | Country | Mbps | 5GB DT | ± 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taiwan | 85.02 | 00h 08m | 13 |
| 2 | Singapore | 70.86 | 00h 09m | -1 |
| 3 | Jersey | 67.46 | 00h 10m | 7 |
| 4 | Sweden | 55.18 | 00h 12m | -2 |
| 5 | Denmark | 49.19 | 00h 13m | -2 |
| 6 | Japan | 42.77 | 00h 15m | 6 |
| 7 | Luxembourg | 41.69 | 00h 16m | 1 |
| 8 | Netherlands | 40.21 | 00h 16m | -1 |
| 9 | Switzerland | 38.85 | 00h 17m | 2 |
| 10 | San Marino | 38.73 | 00h 17m | N/A |
| 11 | Norway | 38.46 | 00h 17m | -7 |
| 12 | Andorra | 38.31 | 00h 17m | 6 |
| 13 | Spain | 36.06 | 00h 18m | 3 |
| 14 | Belgium | 35.69 | 00h 19m | -8 |
| 15 | United States | 32.89 | 00h 20m | 5 |
| 16 | Latvia | 32.74 | 00h 20m | -3 |
| 17 | New Zealand | 32.72 | 00h 20m | 9 |
| 18 | Estonia | 31.55 | 00h 21m | -3 |
| 19 | Hong Kong | 31.37 | 00h 21m | 0 |
| 20 | Hungary | 31.10 | 00h 21m | -11 |
| 21 | Lithuania | 30.66 | 00h 22m | -4 |
| 22 | France | 30.44 | 00h 22m | 1 |
| 23 | Slovakia | 29.45 | 00h 23m | -2 |
| 24 | Finland | 29.34 | 00h 23m | 0 |
| 25 | Canada | 28.76 | 00h 23m | 8 |
| 26 | Slovenia | 27.83 | 00h 24m | 2 |
| 27 | Germany | 24.64 | 00h 27m | -2 |
| 28 | Poland | 24.38 | 00h 28m | 4 |
| 29 | Ireland | 23.87 | 00h 28m | 7 |
| 30 | Malaysia | 23.86 | 00h 28m | 18 |
| 31 | Czechia | 23.27 | 00h 29m | -4 |
| 32 | Portugal | 22.75 | 00h 30m | -3 |
| 33 | Madagascar | 22.57 | 00h 30m | -11 |
| 34 | United Kingdom | 22.37 | 00h 30m | 1 |
| 35 | Iceland | 22.13 | 00h 30m | -1 |
| 36 | Liechtenstein | 22.04 | 00h 30m | 1 |
| 37 | Romania | 21.80 | 00h 31m | -32 |
| 38 | Gibraltar | 20.27 | 00h 33m | 6 |
| 39 | Monaco | 20.20 | 00h 33m | 21 |
| 40 | Austria | 19.33 | 00h 35m | -2 |
| 41 | Macao | 19.19 | 00h 35m | 0 |
| 42 | Rep. of Korea | 19.18 | 00h 35m | -12 |
| 43 | Serbia | 19.17 | 00h 35m | 7 |
| 44 | Guernsey | 18.26 | 00h 37m | 10 |
| 45 | Thailand | 18.21 | 00h 37m | -5 |
| 46 | Malta | 18.16 | 00h 37m | 0 |
| 47 | Italy | 17.30 | 00h 39m | -4 |
| 48 | Croatia | 17.22 | 00h 39m | -6 |
| 49 | Bulgaria | 16.95 | 00h 40m | -18 |
| 50 | Australia | 16.36 | 00h 41m | 2 |
| 51 | Cayman Isl. | 16.12 | 00h 42m | 4 |
| 52 | Barbados | 16.03 | 00h 42m | -13 |
| 53 | Aruba | 15.15 | 00h 45m | -4 |
| 54 | Russia | 14.89 | 00h 45m | -7 |
| 55 | Bermuda | 13.55 | 00h 50m | 12 |
| 56 | Greece | 13.41 | 00h 50m | 1 |
| 57 | Belarus | 13.19 | 00h 51m | 9 |
| 58 | Trinidad & Tobago | 12.90 | 00h 52m | -2 |
| 59 | Kosovo | 12.07 | 00h 56m | -6 |
| 60 | Rep. of Moldova | 11.56 | 00h 59m | -15 |
| 61 | U.S. Virgin Isl. | 11.45 | 00h 59m | 0 |
| 62 | Bahamas | 11.13 | 01h 01m | 3 |
| 63 | Isle of Man | 11.04 | 01h 01m | -1 |
| 64 | Cyprus | 11.00 | 01h 02m | -5 |
| 65 | Faroe Islands | 10.21 | 01h 06m | -2 |
| 66 | Réunion | 10.02 | 01h 08m | 76 |
| 67 | UAE | 9.62 | 01h 10m | 30 |
| 68 | Dominica | 9.48 | 01h 12m | 19 |
| 69 | Uruguay | 9.16 | 01h 14m | 9 |
| 70 | Montenegro | 9.10 | 01h 14m | 4 |
| 71 | Jamaica | 9.08 | 01h 15m | -2 |
| 72 | Israel | 8.85 | 01h 17m | -2 |
| 73 | Turks & Caicos Isl. | 8.78 | 01h 17m | -22 |
| 74 | India | 8.66 | 01h 18m | 14 |
| 75 | South AFR | 8.40 | 01h 21m | 1 |
| 76 | Panama | 8.09 | 01h 24m | -4 |
| 77 | Puerto Rico | 8.00 | 01h 25m | -4 |
| 78 | North Macedonia | 7.97 | 01h 25m | -10 |
| 79 | Bonaire | 7.92 | 01h 26m | N/A |
| 80 | British Virgin Isl. | 7.75 | 01h 28m | 14 |
| 81 | Ukraine | 7.72 | 01h 28m | -23 |
| 82 | Sri Lanka | 7.67 | 01h 28m | -1 |
| 83 | Curaçao | 7.64 | 01h 29m | -3 |
| 84 | Kenya | 7.62 | 01h 29m | -20 |
| 85 | Albania | 7.61 | 01h 29m | 1 |
| 86 | Bosnia & Herz. | 7.53 | 01h 30m | -15 |
| 87 | Martinique | 7.23 | 01h 34m | -3 |
| 88 | Georgia | 7.14 | 01h 35m | -11 |
| 89 | Vietnam | 7.02 | 01h 37m | -14 |
| 90 | Belize | 6.80 | 01h 40m | 18 |
| 91 | Guadeloupe | 6.72 | 01h 41m | 8 |
| 92 | Indonesia | 6.65 | 01h 42m | -9 |
| 93 | Greenland | 6.51 | 01h 44m | N/A |
| 94 | Bahrain | 6.24 | 01h 49m | -4 |
| 95 | St Kitts & Nevis | 6.16 | 01h 50m | -16 |
| 96 | Saint Lucia | 6.08 | 01h 52m | 23 |
| 97 | Philippines | 6.05 | 01h 52m | -8 |
| 98 | Mexico | 6.02 | 01h 53m | -13 |
| 99 | Antigua & Barbuda | 5.91 | 01h 55m | 10 |
| 100 | Morocco | 5.48 | 02h 04m | 5 |
| 101 | Qatar | 5.35 | 02h 07m | 10 |
| 102 | Turkey | 5.27 | 02h 09m | -11 |
| 103 | Saudi Arabia | 5.27 | 02h 09m | 1 |
| 104 | Jordan | 5.20 | 02h 11m | -2 |
| 105 | Sint Maarten | 5.13 | 02h 13m | -12 |
| 106 | Grenada | 5.07 | 02h 14m | 31 |
| 107 | Oman | 5.07 | 02h 14m | 3 |
| 108 | Mauritius | 5.02 | 02h 16m | 31 |
| 109 | Myanmar | 4.87 | 02h 20m | -9 |
| 110 | Armenia | 4.85 | 02h 20m | -3 |
| 111 | Brazil | 4.84 | 02h 21m | 22 |
| 112 | Brunei | 4.78 | 02h 22m | -11 |
| 113 | Kazakhstan | 4.66 | 02h 26m | -18 |
| 114 | Tunisia | 4.64 | 02h 27m | -2 |
| 115 | Fiji | 4.62 | 02h 27m | 12 |
| 116 | Anguilla | 4.59 | 02h 28m | N/A |
| 117 | Costa Rica | 4.52 | 02h 31m | -11 |
| 118 | Iran | 4.39 | 02h 35m | 27 |
| 119 | New Caledonia | 4.34 | 02h 37m | -2 |
| 120 | Saint Barthélemy | 4.12 | 02h 45m | N/A |
| 121 | Dominican Rep. | 4.09 | 02h 47m | -25 |
| 122 | Cambodia | 4.03 | 02h 49m | -19 |
| 123 | Saint Martin | 3.98 | 02h 51m | N/A |
| 124 | Chile | 3.89 | 02h 55m | -32 |
| 125 | Kuwait | 3.88 | 02h 55m | 0 |
| 126 | St Vincent & the Gren. | 3.81 | 02h 59m | 6 |
| 127 | Guam | 3.73 | 03h 02m | -3 |
| 128 | Nepal | 3.62 | 03h 08m | 16 |
| 129 | Paraguay | 3.55 | 03h 12m | 26 |
| 130 | Guyana | 3.49 | 03h 15m | -2 |
| 131 | Colombia | 3.48 | 03h 16m | -17 |
| 132 | Ecuador | 3.46 | 03h 17m | -6 |
| 133 | Suriname | 3.40 | 03h 20m | 3 |
| 134 | Namibia | 3.39 | 03h 21m | -3 |
| 135 | Rwanda | 3.34 | 03h 24m | -5 |
| 136 | Cabo Verde | 3.31 | 03h 26m | -21 |
| 137 | Guatemala | 3.22 | 03h 32m | -19 |
| 138 | Uganda | 3.22 | 03h 32m | 2 |
| 139 | Ghana | 3.20 | 03h 33m | -19 |
| 140 | Zambia | 3.13 | 03h 37m | 6 |
| 141 | Azerbaijan | 3.10 | 03h 39m | -6 |
| 142 | Burundi | 3.03 | 03h 45m | -8 |
| 143 | Haiti | 2.94 | 03h 51m | -5 |
| 144 | El Salvador | 2.93 | 03h 52m | -21 |
| 145 | Seychelles | 2.93 | 03h 53m | 11 |
| 146 | Laos | 2.92 | 03h 53m | -48 |
| 147 | Peru | 2.86 | 03h 58m | -34 |
| 148 | Honduras | 2.84 | 04h 00m | -26 |
| 149 | Argentina | 2.83 | 04h 01m | -33 |
| 150 | Zimbabwe | 2.73 | 04h 09m | -29 |
| 151 | Bangladesh | 2.72 | 04h 11m | -3 |
| 152 | China | 2.69 | 04h 13m | -11 |
| 153 | Comoros | 2.54 | 04h 28m | N/A |
| 154 | Nicaragua | 2.54 | 04h 28m | -25 |
| 155 | Kyrgyzstan | 2.5 | 04h 33m | 8 |
| 156 | Papua New Guinea | 2.47 | 04h 36m | -6 |
| 157 | Tanzania | 2.34 | 04h 51m | -8 |
| 158 | French Guiana | 2.26 | 05h 01m | -15 |
| 159 | Senegal | 2.25 | 05h 03m | 10 |
| 160 | Mozambique | 2.16 | 05h 16m | -7 |
| 161 | Liberia | 2.11 | 05h 23m | -3 |
| 162 | Mongolia | 2.10 | 05h 24m | -1 |
| 163 | Togo | 1.96 | 05h 48m | 10 |
| 164 | Sudan | 1.93 | 05h 53m | -2 |
| 165 | Botswana | 1.92 | 05h 56m | -1 |
| 166 | Libya | 1.88 | 06h 03m | 1 |
| 167 | Lebanon | 1.84 | 06h 11m | -7 |
| 168 | Ivory Coast | 1.83 | 06h 12m | -11 |
| 169 | Palestine | 1.83 | 06h 13m | -15 |
| 170 | Maldives | 1.81 | 06h 16m | -23 |
| 171 | Bolivia | 1.73 | 06h 33m | -20 |
| 172 | Cuba | 1.66 | 06h 51m | -90 |
| 173 | Egypt | 1.62 | 07h 01m | -3 |
| 174 | Malawi | 1.59 | 07h 10m | 5 |
| 175 | Mali | 1.56 | 07h 17m | 12 |
| 176 | Nigeria | 1.56 | 07h 18m | -24 |
| 177 | French Polynesia | 1.51 | 07h 31m | -9 |
| 178 | eSwatini (Swaziland) | 1.45 | 07h 51m | -4 |
| 179 | Pakistan | 1.44 | 07h 55m | -8 |
| 180 | Iraq | 1.39 | 08h 11m | -2 |
| 181 | Uzbekistan | 1.37 | 08h 17m | 3 |
| 182 | Algeria | 1.37 | 08h 19m | -7 |
| 183 | Venezuela | 1.37 | 08h 20m | -7 |
| 184 | Afghanistan | 1.26 | 08h 59m | -4 |
| 185 | Gabon | 1.26 | 09h 03m | -4 |
| 186 | Guinea | 1.25 | 09h 05m | 10 |
| 187 | Angola | 1.21 | 09h 22m | -22 |
| 188 | Gambia | 1.21 | 09h 25m | -22 |
| 189 | Sierra Leone | 1.20 | 09h 29m | -30 |
| 190 | DR Congo | 1.10 | 10h 21m | 0 |
| 191 | Mayotte | 1.09 | 10h 24m | -6 |
| 192 | Tajikistan | 1.05 | 10h 50m | -4 |
| 193 | Cameroon | 1.03 | 11h 04m | -21 |
| 194 | Burkina Faso | 1.02 | 11h 09m | -2 |
| 195 | Syria | 0.95 | 12h 02m | -1 |
| 196 | Benin | 0.94 | 12h 02m | -19 |
| 197 | Rep. of Congo | 0.93 | 12h 14m | -6 |
| 198 | Djibouti | 0.88 | 12h 54m | -9 |
| 199 | São Tomé & Prín. | 0.87 | 13h 08m | -17 |
| 200 | Somalia | 0.86 | 13h 17m | -3 |
| 201 | Ethiopia | 0.80 | 14h 10m | -18 |
| 202 | Niger | 0.71 | 16h 05m | -9 |
| 203 | Turkmenistan | 0.70 | 16h 10m | -5 |
| 204 | Mauritania | 0.59 | 19h 22m | -9 |
| 205 | Equatorial Guinea | 0.51 | 22h 22m | N/A |
| 206 | Timor-Leste | 0.45 | 25h 24m | -7 |
| 207 | Yemen | 0.38 | 30h 01m | -7 |
The full Worldwide Broadband Speed League from Cable can be downloaded here.
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