Ranked: countries with the fastest internet in the world 2024

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11th October 2024
Fastest internet lead image showing satellite image of Europe at night

The countries with the fastest internet in the world have been announced for 2024. Read our insights and browse the rankings below

Iceland has the fastest internet in the world, followed by the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Macao, Liechtenstein, Denmark and Andorra. The USA is ranked 10th and the UK is 30th. Turkmenistan 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 1.5 billion speed tests across over 200 countries and territories. It is the sixth year of the assessment and the latest ranking uses data collected in the 12 months up to 30 June 2024 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.

A village in Iceland – which has the fastest internet in the world
Blue Planet Studio/Shutterstock Iceland has the fastest internet in the world

10 Countries with the fastest internet

Iceland has the fastest broadband in the world with an average speed of 279.55Mbps.

  1. Iceland
  2. Macao
  3. Liechtenstein
  4. Denmark
  5. Andorra
  6. Netherlands
  7. France
  8. Monaco
  9. South Korea
  10. USA

10 Countries with the slowest internet

Turkmenistan has the slowest broadband in the world with an average speed of just 2.72Mbps. It would take almost an hour to download a 5GB movie in Turkmenistan.

  1. Turkmenistan
  2. Syria
  3. Yemen
  4. Tajikistan
  5. Afghanistan
  6. Sudan
  7. Central African Republic
  8. Ethiopia
  9. Cuba
  10. Eritrea
Ashgabat in Turkmenistan which has the slowest internet world
JoostP/Shutterstock Turkmenistan has the slowest internet in the world

Key headlines

  • The global average broadband internet speed is 53.89Mbps (megabits per second).
  • Iceland has the fastest broadband in the world with an average speed of 279.55Mbps.
  • Turkmenistan has the slowest broadband in the world with an average speed of just 2.72Mbps.
  • Thirty-one of the 50 fastest countries are located in Europe, with six in Asia, nine in the Americas, three in the Middle East and one in Oceania.
  • By contrast, 30 of the 50 slowest-performing countries are located in Africa.
  • Thirty-five 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 skyline of Macao at night
Richie Chan/Shutterstock Macao has the fastest internet in Asia

The internet is getting faster, but…

The average global internet speed is getting faster with the global average increasing by 18.35% from 46.79Mbps in 2022 to 55.38Mbps in 2024.

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.

YearMbpsChange: MbpsChange: %
202455.388.5918.35%
202346.797.4130.04%
202235.986.1920.78%
202129.794.9619.98%
202024.8313.8125.11%
201911.031.8920.68%
20189.141.7323.35%
20177.41

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. Iceland has the fastest broadband in Europe and the world an average speed of 279.55Mbps.

map of countries with the fastest internet
Cable Mapped: the countries with the fastest internet

Liechtenstein (3), Denmark (4), Andorra (5), the Netherlands (6) and France (7) are not too far behind. The UK (30) has Europe’s 19th fastest internet with an average speed of 110.99Mbps.

“The UK has lost some ground this past year against other Western European nations, and has on average slower broadband than the European average. Part of this has to do with relative speed of Full Fibre rollout across the UK. It continues apace, but we appear to be slower than some European rivals in this respect. Speedtest results however do not differentiate between differences in available speed versus take-up, so a slow descent in our European ranking here can also be a reflection of customers opting for slower speeds, or indeed superior marketing of Full Fibre deals on the part of our European neighbours.”

– Dan Howdle, Cable

In Asia, Macau (2) has the fastest internet with South Korea (9), Japan (21), Hong Kong (22), Taiwan (23) and Singapore (24) all performing well.

The US (10) has the fastest broadband in the Americas with an average speed of 161.97Mbps. Uruguay (12) is the region’s second-fastest with Canada (15) and Chile (36) in third and fourth respectively. Cuba (190) has the slowest internet in the Americas.

Africa is some distance behind the rest of the world when it comes to broadband provision. Thirty-one of the 50 slowest countries in the world are located in Africa. South Africa (91) has the fastest internet in Africa followed by Eswatini (97), Rwanda (102), Mauritius (103) and Botswana (105)

Countries with the fastest internet in Europe

  1. Iceland
  2. Liechtenstein
  3. Denmark
  4. Andorra
  5. Netherlands
  6. France
  7. Monaco
  8. Switzerland
  9. Sweden
  10. Spain

Countries with the fastest internet in Asia

  1. Macao
  2. South Korea
  3. Japan
  4. Hong Kong
  5. Taiwan
  6. Singapore
  7. Malaysia
  8. Thailand
  9. India
  10. Brunei

Countries with the fastest internet in Africa

  1. South Africa
  2. Eswatini
  3. Rwanda
  4. Mauritius
  5. Botswana
  6. Nigeria
  7. Madagascar
  8. Lesotho
  9. Seychelles
  10. Morocco
Cape Town at dusk
Quality Master/Shutterstock South Africa has the fastest internet in Africa

Countries with the fastest internet in the Americas

  1. Americas
  2. USA
  3. Uruguay
  4. Canada
  5. Chile
  6. Barbados
  7. Brazil
  8. Grenada
  9. Bahamas
  10. St Kitts & Nevis
  11. Trinidad & Tobago
New York city during sunset
Thorsten Weinert/Shutterstock The US has the fastest internet in the Americas

Countries with the fastest internet in the Middle East

  1. Israel
  2. Qatar
  3. UAE
  4. Bahrain
  5. Kuwait
  6. Oman
  7. Cyprus
  8. Jordan
  9. Saudi Arabia
  10. Turkey

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Complete rankings

The table below ranks countries by their average download speed in megabits per second (Mbps).

Some countries and territories have been excluded due to insufficient sample size.

RankCountryMbps
1Iceland279.55
2Macao234.74
3Liechtenstein222.98
4Denmark210.51
5Andorra199.89
6Netherlands188.49
7France176.97
8Monaco173.79
9South Korea172.53
10USA161.97
11Switzerland161.88
12Uruguay156.99
13Sweden156.42
14Israel153.61
15Canada152.25
16Spain148.63
17Slovakia145.19
18San Marino143.20
19Malta141.07
20Norway140.56
21Japan139.53
22Hong Kong138.18
23Taiwan136.58
24Singapore134.43
25Belgium124.78
RankCountryMbps
26New Zealand124.01
27Portugal116.91
28Estonia113.10
29Hungary112.15
30UK110.99
31Lithuania110.74
32Romania105.46
33Poland104.36
34Ireland102.96
35Qatar101.72
36Chile100.66
37UAE99.26
38Barbados97.27
39Latvia95.50
40Finland95.13
41Brazil92.83
42Slovenia90.40
43Germany87.77
44Serbia86.36
45Malaysia82.38
46North Macedonia79.09
47Australia77.99
48Luxembourg76.64
49Czech Rep74.41
50Montenegro73.93
RankCountyMbps
51Moldova73.84
52Greece72.54
53Grenada72.49
54Italy72.45
55Bahamas72.34
56St Kitts & Nevis71.96
57Thailand67.75
58Bulgaria67.47
59Russia67.43
60Bahrain67.16
61Trinidad & Tobago66.43
62India65.51
63Austria64.96
64Peru63.28
65Brunei62.61
66Panama62.43
67Jamaica62.13
68Argentina59.70
69Kuwait58.89
70Oman57.85
71Saint Lucia56.84
72Colombia53.87
73Costa Rica53.39
74Kosovo53.29
75St Vinc & Gren52.14
RankCountryMbps
76Philippines52.07
77Vatican City51.60
78Cyprus51.53
79Ukraine49.39
80Anguilla49.23
81Dominican Rep48.05
82Dominica47.90
83Montserrat46.34
84Vietnam45.92
85Belarus45.81
86Ecuador45.54
87Bosnia & Herz45.51
88Paraguay45.10
89Mexico44.73
90Jordan42.46
91South Africa42.42
92Belize41.72
93Croatia38.52
94Saudi Arabia37.65
95China37.56
96Guatemala37.34
97Eswatini37.23
98El Salvador35.90
99Nicaragua33.85
100Antigua & Barbuda32.98
RankCountryMbps
101Turkey32.89
102Rwanda32.69
103Mauritius31.12
104Albania29.87
105Botswana29.52
106Guyana28.57
107Nigeria27.62
108Maldives27.26
109Marshall Islands26.84
110Armenia26.78
111Nepal25.97
112Palestine25.20
113Laos25.14
114Cambodia24.54
115Venezuela23.33
116Madagascar22.57
117Honduras21.77
118Bhutan21.24
119Uzbekistan21.21
120Georgia20.83
121Lesotho20.71
122Bolivia20.14
123Seychelles20.09
124Morocco19.61
125Indonesia19.54
RankCountryMbps
126Mongolia19.14
127Sri Lanka18.45
128Samoa17.82
129Ivory Coast17.67
130São Tomé & Príncipe17.45
131Zimbabwe16.77
132Ghana16.59
133Congo16.25
134Burkina Faso15.91
135Benin15.54
136Papua New Guinea15.52
137Gabon14.85
138Mayotte14.50
139Mozambique14.15
140Kazakhstan13.92
141Azerbaijan13.85
142Suriname13.79
143Kenya13.69
144Uganda13.59
145Fiji13.28
146Myanmar13.28
147Tanzania13.26
148Haiti13.21
149Malawi13.14
150DR Congo12.81
RankCountryMbps
151Angola12.79
152Egypt12.64
153Liberia12.45
154Algeria12.35
155Senegal12.16
156Solomon Islands11.54
157Namibia11.48
158Cabo Verde11.44
159Kyrgyzstan11.31
160Tunisia11.18
161Mauritania10.94
162Togo10.54
163Chad10.47
164Iraq10.39
165Palau10.01
166Iran9.72
167Lebanon9.67
168Bangladesh9.22
169Zambia8.99
170Guinea8.55
171Comoros8.38
172Libya8.37
173Cameroon7.97
174Pakistan7.85
175Vanuatu7.67
RankCountryMbps
176Mali7.66
177South Sudan7.47
178Sierra Leone7.24
179Djibouti7.21
180Somalia6.64
181Burundi6.07
182Timor-Leste6.00
183Guinea-Bissau5.63
184Falkland Islands5.34
185Gambia5.33
186Micronesia5.32
187Equatorial Guinea5.27
188Niger4.97
189Eritrea4.61
190Cuba4.49
191Ethiopia4.45
192Central African Republic4.08
193Sudan4.02
194Afghanistan3.11
195Tajikistan3.10
196Yemen2.99
197Syria2.80
198Turkmenistan2.72

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