The countries with the fastest internet in the world have been announced for 2020. 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 557 million speed tests across 221 countries or territories.

It is the third year of the assessment and the latest ranking uses data collected in the 12 months up to 30th June 2020.

10 Countries with the fastest internet

Liechtenstein has the fastest broadband in the world with an average speed of 229.98Mbps.

Liechtenstein Andorra Iceland Switzerland Hong Kong (SAR) Monaco Hungary Netherlands Aruba Malta

10 Countries with the slowest internet

South Sudan has the slowest broadband in the world with an average speed of just 0.58Mbps.

South Sudan Yemen Turkmenistan Equatorial Guinea Syria Timor-Leste Tajikistan Ethiopia Somalia Sudan

“While global broadband speeds continue to trend upward, the truth is faster countries are the ones lifting the average, pulling away at speed and leaving the slowest to stagnate.” Dan Howdle, Cable

Key headlines

The global average broadband internet speed is 24.83Mbps (megabits per second).

Liechtenstein has the fastest broadband in the world overtaking Taiwan with an average speed of 229.98Mbps.

South Sudan has the slowest broadband in the world with an average speed of just 0.58Mbps.

It would take nearly 20 hours to download a 5GB movie file in South Sudan while someone in Liechtenstein could do it in under three minutes.

The five countries with the fastest internet have download speeds around 276 times faster than the five slowest.

32 of the 50 fastest countries are located in Europe, with seven in Asia, seven in the Caribbean, two in North America and two in the Middle East.

By contrast, 32 of the 50 slowest-performing countries are located Africa.

109 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 with the global average increasing by around 20%. This takes into account changes M-Lab has made to their measurement platform.

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. Eight of the top ten countries with the fastest internet are in Europe. Liechtenstein has the fastest broadband in Europe and the world an average speed of 229.98Mbps.

Andorra (2), Iceland (3) and Switzerland (4) are not far behind with average speeds of 213.41, 116.88 and 110.45Mbps respectively. The UK is in 40th place with average speed of 37.82Mbps.

Hove over a country above to bring up its speed data

In Asia, Hong Kong (5), Singapore (14), Taiwan (27), Japan (28) and South Korea (36) are the continent’s top performers with speeds of 105.32, 72.75, 54.77, 54.62, and 40.81Mbps respectively.

The US (16) has the fastest broadband in the Americas with an average speed of 71.3Mbps. Canada (29) is the region’s second-fastest with 52.60Mbps. Generally, Caribbean countries perform well with Aruba the region’s fastest internet with an average speed of 89.81Mbps.

Uruguay (59) has the fastest broadband in South America at 22.16Mbps, while Venezuela (180) has the slowest at 1.61Mbps.

Sub-Saharan Africa is some distance behind the rest of the world when it comes to broadband provision. 48 countries in the region were assessed, with 45 of them in the lowest 50% of countries in the table. Madagascar is the fastest African nation in 65th place with an average speed of 18Mbps.

“Europe absolutely dominates 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

In the Middle East, the fastest countries were UAE (46), Israel (50) and Qatar (57) with 28.33, 26.49 and 23.98Mbps respectively. The slowest were Lebanon (168), Syria (190) and Yemen (193) with 2.34, 0.76 and 0.65Mbps.

Complete rankings

The table below ranks countries by their average download speed in megabits per second (Mbps) and the typical download time (DT) for a 5GB movie.

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

Position Country Mbps 5GB DT 1 Liechtenstein 229.98 0h 02m 58s 2 Andorra 213.41 0h 03m 12s 3 Iceland 116.88 0h 05m 50s 4 Switzerland 110.45 0h 06m 11s 5 Hong Kong (SAR) 105.32 0h 06m 29s 6 Monaco 104.98 0h 06m 30s 7 Hungary 99.74 0h 06m 51s 8 Netherlands 95.60 0h 07m 08s 9 Aruba 89.81 0h 07m 36s 10 Malta 87.36 0h 07m 49s 11 Denmark 85.03 0h 08m 02s 12 Sweden 81.29 0h 08m 24s 13 Bermuda 73.60 0h 09m 17s 14 Singapore 72.75 0h 09m 23s 15 Slovakia 72.26 0h 09m 27s 16 USA 71.30 0h 09m 34s 17 Estonia 70.90 0h 09m 38s 18 Norway 67.31 0h 10m 08s 19 New Zealand 66.66 0h 10m 14s 20 Belgium 66.49 0h 10m 16s 21 Slovenia 65.46 0h 10m 26s 22 Romania 61.08 0h 11m 11s 23 Barbados 56.90 0h 12m 00s 24 Lithuania 56.63 0h 12m 03s 25 Spain 55.84 0h 12m 14s 26 Poland 55.40 0h 12m 19s 27 Taiwan 54.77 0h 12m 28s 28 Japan 54.62 0h 12m 30s 29 Canada 52.60 0h 12m 59s 30 Latvia 52.32 0h 13m 03s 31 France 51.33 0h 13m 18s 32 Malaysia 46.82 0h 14m 35s 33 Bulgaria 46.22 0h 14m 46s 34 Finland 44.05 0h 15m 30s 35 Germany 42.33 0h 16m 08s 36 South Korea 40.81 0h 16m 44s 37 Grenada 38.64 0h 17m 40s 38 Bahamas 38.14 0h 17m 54s 39 Portugal 37.99 0h 17m 58s 40 UK 37.82 0h 18m 03s 41 Panama 36.55 0h 18m 41s 42 Ireland 34.87 0h 19m 35s 43 Croatia 33.82 0h 20m 11s 44 Thailand 30.61 0h 22m 18s 45 Trinidad & Tobago 29.70 0h 22m 59s 46 UAE 28.33 0h 24m 06s 47 Czech Rep. 28.12 0h 24m 16s 48 Austria 27.74 0h 24m 36s 49 Moldova 27.48 0h 24m 50s 50 Israel 26.49 0h 25m 46s 51 Greece 26.01 0h 26m 15s 52 Australia 25.65 0h 26m 37s 53 Montenegro 25.07 0h 27m 14s 54 Russia 24.98 0h 27m 20s 55 Serbia 24.74 0h 27m 36s 56 San Marino 24.26 0h 28m 08s 57 Qatar 23.98 0h 28m 28s 58 Italy 23.18 0h 29m 27s 59 Uruguay 22.16 0h 30m 48s 60 Sri Lanka 20.73 0h 32m 56s 61 Kosovo 20.3 0h 33m 37s 62 Jamaica 20.01 0h 34m 07s 63 Vatican City 19.12 0h 35m 43s 64 Greenland 18.65 0h 36m 36s 65 Madagascar 18.00 0h 37m 55s 66 Brazil 17.89 0h 38m 09s 67 Belize 16.57 0h 41m 11s 68 Paraguay 16.50 0h 41m 23s 69 Costa Rica 16.42 0h 41m 34s 70 St. Lucia 16.35 0h 41m 45s 71 Mexico 16.19 0h 42m 10s 72 Chile 16.10 0h 42m 24s 73 Belarus 16.08 0h 42m 27s 74 St. Vincent & Gren. 15.69 0h 43m 30s 75 Bosnia & Herz. 15.66 0h 43m 35s 76 Cyprus 15.62 0h 43m 42s 77 Ukraine 15.09 0h 45m 14s 78 Macau (SAR) 14.66 0h 46m 34s 79 Jordan 14.54 0h 46m 57s 80 South Africa 14.04 0h 48m 37s 81 Georgia 13.50 0h 50m 35s 82 India 13.46 0h 50m 44s 83 Vietnam 13.41 0h 50m 54s 84 Saudi Arabia 12.67 0h 53m 53s 85 Albania 12.36 0h 55m 15s 86 Oman 12.25 0h 55m 44s 87 Kuwait 12.06 0h 56m 37s 88 Armenia 11.86 0h 57m 33s 89 North Macedonia 11.48 0h 59m 27s 90 Bahrain 10.87 1h 02m 49s 91 Dominican Rep. 10.69 1h 03m 51s 92 Dominica 9.96 1h 08m 34s 93 Antigua & Barbuda 9.63 1h 10m 53s 94 Brunei 8.97 1h 16m 06s 95 Turkey 8.86 1h 17m 05s 96 Fiji 8.83 1h 17m 19s 97 Colombia 8.80 1h 17m 33s 98 Philippines 8.77 1h 17m 51s 99 Ecuador 8.48 1h 20m 29s 100 Kenya 8.2 1h 23m 15s 101 Peru 7.98 1h 25m 30s 102 Guatemala 7.61 1h 29m 44s 103 Lesotho 7.43 1h 31m 52s 104 Mauritius 7.28 1h 33m 44s 105 Indonesia 7.16 1h 35m 21s 106 St. Kitts & Nevis 7.11 1h 36m 03s 107 Myanmar 7.11 1h 36m 04s 108 Zimbabwe 6.92 1h 38m 36s 109 Liberia 6.83 1h 39m 56s 110 Nicaragua 6.65 1h 42m 40s 111 Cape Verde 6.64 1h 42m 53s 112 Morocco 6.55 1h 44m 17s 113 Argentina 6.20 1h 50m 04s 114 El Salvador 6.13 1h 51m 24s 115 Honduras 5.93 1h 55m 06s 116 Senegal 5.93 1h 55m 08s 117 Maldives 5.88 1h 56m 03s 118 French Guiana 5.80 1h 57m 46s 119 Haiti 5.75 1h 58m 40s 120 Tunisia 5.66 2h 00m 42s 121 Cote D'Ivoire 5.55 2h 03m 04s 122 Kyrgyzstan 5.47 2h 04m 51s 123 Ghana 5.46 2h 05m 04s 124 Mongolia 5.25 2h 09m 55s 125 Nepal 5.22 2h 10m 52s 126 Cambodia 5.21 2h 11m 07s 127 Uganda 5.16 2h 12m 24s 128 Bolivia 5.06 2h 14m 59s 129 Kazakhstan 5.01 2h 16m 15s 130 Azerbaijan 4.89 2h 19m 41s 131 Comoros 4.85 2h 20m 48s 132 Egypt 4.71 2h 24m 48s 133 Bhutan 4.62 2h 27m 49s 134 Tanzania 4.54 2h 30m 26s 135 Eswatini 4.51 2h 31m 15s 136 Iran 4.50 2h 31m 47s 137 Micronesia 4.49 2h 31m 58s 138 Laos 4.47 2h 32m 46s 139 Guyana 4.43 2h 33m 57s 140 Suriname 4.42 2h 34m 23s 141 Gabon 4.37 2h 36m 07s 142 French Polynesia 4.28 2h 39m 31s 143 Palau 4.24 2h 41m 06s 144 Burkina Faso 4.19 2h 42m 55s 145 Angola 4.15 2h 44m 18s 146 Malawi 4.07 2h 47m 47s 147 Burundi 4.04 2h 49m 11s 148 Togo 4.03 2h 49m 28s 149 Seychelles 3.96 2h 52m 29s 150 Namibia 3.91 2h 54m 41s 151 Sierra Leone 3.86 2h 56m 57s 152 Zambia 3.84 2h 57m 34s 153 Rwanda 3.8 2h 59m 52s 154 Mozambique 3.47 3h 16m 32s 155 Mali 3.45 3h 17m 44s 156 Nigeria 3.34 3h 24m 16s 157 Bangladesh 3.24 3h 31m 01s 158 Cuba 3.16 3h 36m 16s 159 Palestine 3.13 3h 38m 03s 160 Guinea 3.04 3h 44m 56s 161 Botswana 2.78 4h 05m 23s 162 Cameroon 2.78 4h 05m 55s 163 Niger 2.77 4h 06m 17s 164 Marshall Islands 2.75 4h 08m 08s 165 Iraq 2.69 4h 13m 48s 166 Papua New Guinea 2.67 4h 15m 19s 167 Libya 2.6 4h 22m 05s 168 Lebanon 2.34 4h 51m 32s 169 Chad 2.25 5h 03m 12s 170 Vanuatu 2.22 5h 06m 55s 171 Pakistan 2.14 5h 19m 18s 172 Uzbekistan 2.1 5h 24m 50s 173 China 2.09 5h 27m 25s 174 DR Congo 2.06 5h 31m 57s 175 Rep. of the Congo 2.00 5h 41m 20s 176 Sao Tome & Principe 1.99 5h 42m 37s 177 Algeria 1.83 6h 12m 30s 178 Benin 1.67 6h 47m 40s 179 Guinea-Bissau 1.61 7h 03m 04s 180 Venezuela 1.61 7h 03m 05s 181 Gambia 1.60 7h 07m 30s 182 Djibouti 1.50 7h 34m 50s 183 Mauritania 1.47 7h 44m 30s 184 Afghanistan 1.37 8h 17m 37s 185 Sudan 1.35 8h 24m 07s 186 Somalia 1.14 9h 56m 39s 187 Ethiopia 1.12 10h 10m 34s 188 Tajikistan 1.01 11h 16m 08s 189 Timor-Leste 0.89 12h 42m 52s 190 Syria 0.76 15h 00m 11s 191 Equatorial Guinea 0.75 15h 13m 09s 192 Turkmenistan 0.74 15h 25m 57s 193 Yemen 0.65 17h 23m 00s 194 South Sudan 0.58 19h 31m 00s

The full Worldwide Broadband Speed League from Cable can be downloaded here.

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