Worldwide broadband speed league 2022
A global league table of internet network speeds derived from over 1.1 billion speed tests taken in the 12 months up to 30 June 2022 and spanning 220 countries.
Interactive map
Using the map
Countries are colour-coded by the average broadband network speed measured there. You can see at a glance that Western Europe, North America and the Baltic regions dominate the upper speed bands. Meanwhile, the African continent, Central and South America, the Near East and the CIS make up the lion's share of landmass where network speeds are slowest.
Hovering over an individual country will bring up its associated data. This includes country name, its ranking out of the 220 countries measured, its mean download speed, the number of unique IP addresses tested, the total number of tests and how long it takes to download an HD movie of 5GB in size.
Why some countries are missing data
Countries where fewer than 100 measurements could be taken during the sample period were excluded from the study and therefore from the map. You can still see the data for these countries if you wish – they are included in the 'Excluded countries' tab of the downloadable data. However, due to the small sample size the numbers are deemed unreliable.
This year's excluded countries are: Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Vatican City, Tuvalu, Montserrat, Saint Helena, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Antarctica, Pitcairn Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the Heard and McDonald Islands, Niue, Tonga, Bouvet Island, the Falkland Islands, U.S. Outlying Islands, French Southern Territories, North Korea, British Indian Ocean Territory, Christmas Island, Western Sahara, Palau, Nauru, the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Norfolk Island, Comoros, the Cook Islands, Tokelau, Kiribati and the Central African Republic.
Related research
Cable.co.uk also undertakes annual tracking studies covering the cost of 1GB of mobile data in over 200 countries, and the cost of broadband packages in over 200 countries. In August of 2020, we also released an in-depth report on how COVID-19 lockdown periods have affected global network speeds. Finally, for the first time, last year Cable.co.uk undertook a study of global electricity pricing.
Highlights
Here is a quick look at some of the highlights unearthed in the study.
#1. Macau
Macau has leapt from 8th place to first place this year due to its increased migration of customers from traditional fibre lines to pure fibre connections.
#2. Jersey
Jersey was the first jurisdiction in the world to make pure fibre (FTTP) available to every broadband user. Jersey Telecom offers its customers a minimum download speed of 500Mbps.
#3. Iceland
Iceland's Rural Fibre Project, which guarantees a minimum speed of 100Mbps to 99.9% of its population, has meant the country has held onto its third-place position from last year.
#4. Liechtenstein
98% of Liechtenstein's population are internet users, and, as a result of its small geographical area, the country enjoys excellent broadband infrastructure with high speeds for all.
The fastest and slowest countries in the world for broadband speed
Here we take a closer look at the five fastest and slowest countries in the world in terms of average internet download speeds.
Countries in the world with the slowest internet
The five countries in the world with the slowest network speeds are Turkmenistan (0.77Mbps), the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (0.94Mbps),Yemen (0.97Mbps), Guinea-Bissau (0.98Mbps) and Afghanistan (0.98Mbps).
Two of the bottom five are located in Asia, one in Near East, one in Sub-Saharan Africa and one in CIS (Former USSR). All of these countries suffer from underdeveloped network infrastructure and low uptake of digital services among their populations.
Countries with the fastest internet
The five countries with the fastest internet in the world are Macau (262.74Mbps), Jersey (256.59Mbps), Iceland (216.56Mbps), Liechtenstein (166.22Mbps) and Gibraltar (159.90Mbps).
It will be immediately striking to most that all of these countries share similarities. Four of the five are within Western Europe, with Macau in Asia being the exception. All are either very small or they are island nations. It is much easier to roll out FTTP full fibre broadband and 5G mobile internet to a smaller population and/or across a smaller area.
Global average broadband speed continues to rise sharply
Tracking broadband speed measurements in 220 countries and territories (224 last year) across multiple 12-month periods has allowed us to generate an overall average speed for the globe and to see how this number changes over time. The good news is that the global average speed continues rising fast.
The average global broadband speed measured during 2017 was 7.40Mbps. The average global broadband speed measured during 2018 was 9.10Mbps – a rise of 23.35%. In 2019, the average speed measured was 11.03Mbps – a further rise of 20.65% over the previous year. In 2020, the average rose again by another 90% to 24.83Mbps, though it should be noted that much of this rise can be attributed to upgraded measurement tools.
Last year (2021) the global average speed rose again by another 20% to 29.79Mbps. This year, the average is now 34.79Mbps – a 15% rise.
For more information on the 2020 M-Lab platform upgrade, please refer to the downloadable methodology document.
Regions
Here we take a closer look at the average speeds across 13 global regions. Each of the numbers in the following diagram is the mean speed in Mbps for each of these regions, ordered by fastest to slowest.
Asia (excl. Near East)
27 countries were measured in the Asia (ex. Near East) region, which clocked in a regional average speed of 43.31Mbps. The fastest average speeds were measured in Macau (262.74Mbps, 1st), Taiwan (135.88Mbps, 7th), and Japan (122.33Mbps, 9th). The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (0.94Mbps, 219th), Afghanistan (0.98Mbps, 216th), and China (2.78Mbps, 207th) were the slowest in the region, with Timor-Leste and Afghanistan in the bottom ten countries in the world.
Baltics
The Baltics, comprising three qualifying countries, ranked entirely within the top 50, and have an overall regional average of 79.05Mbps. Estonia fared best in 26th place overall and with an average speed of 89.81Mbps. Lithuania (84.80Mbps, 31st), and Latvia (62.55Mbps, 40th) followed behind fairly closely.
Caribbean
Overall the Caribbean region fared well for what are essentially island nations, with three of its 27 countries featuring in the top 50 fastest countries in the world. Overall, the region offers a respectable 35.18Mbps on average. At the faster end, the Cayman Islands (99.42Mbps, 20th), Puerto Rico (72.78Mbps, 34th), and Aruba (61.10Mbps, 41st) led the way, while Cuba (3.26Mbps, 203rd), Haiti (9.54Mbps, 157th), Sint Maarten (10.01Mbps, 153rd), and Dominican Republic (12.66Mbps, 135th) were the slowest.
Central America
Most Central American countries found themselves toward the middle of the league table. The region as a whole has an average speed of 20.19Mbps. The fastest average speeds can be found in Panama (30.04Mbps, 84th), Mexico (27.62Mbps, 91st), and Belize (27.10Mbps, 92nd). Meanwhile, Honduras (10.88Mbps, 145th), El Salvador (12.53Mbps, 136th), and Guatemala (13.36Mbps, 132nd) all performed relatively poorly.
CIS (Former USSR)
Of the 11 CIS (former USSR) nations in the table, most can be found from the middle of the table downwards. The region had an average speed of 18.44Mbps. The top three fastest nations in the region are Ukraine (47.74Mbps, 52nd), Russian Federation (47.71Mbps, 53rd), and Belarus (27.69Mbps, 90th). The slowest countries in the region were Turkmenistan (also slowest in the world – 0.77Mbps, 220th), Tajikistan (2.02Mbps, 211th) and Azerbaijan (6.61Mbps, 175th). Both Tajikistan and Turkmenistan were among the slowest ten places in the world.
Eastern Europe
There are 16 qualifying countries in the Eastern Europe region, all bar two of which are in the top half of the table, with four making it into the top 50. Overall the region averages 39.43Mbps. The fastest three were Romania (112.39Mbps, 15th), Republic of Moldova (66.08Mbps, 37th) and Poland (55.82Mbps, 44th). The slowest three were Bosnia and Herzegovina (8.16Mbps, 169th), Albania (11.47Mbps, 141st), and Croatia (20.74Mbps, 106th).
Near East
The 15 countries in the Near East measured for this year's speed league table span the middle to the bottom of the table. The average download speed for the region is 18.32Mbps. The fastest countries were Israel (47.05Mbps, 55th), Cyprus (38.52Mbps, 71st) and Kuwait (30.87Mbps, 82nd). The slowest were Yemen (0.97Mbps, 218th), Syrian Arab Republic (2.88Mbps, 205th) and Lebanon (3.86Mbps, 193rd).
Northern Africa
Northern Africa recorded the lowest overall internet speeds as a collective region, with an average of 7.45Mbps. Morocco (13.03Mbps, 133rd), Tunisia (8.32Mbps, 167th), and Egypt (7.81Mbps, 170th) offered the fastest speeds in the region. Mauritania (3.98Mbps) recorded the slowest speed in 191st place, followed by Libya (5.27Mbps, 183rd), and Algeria (6.27Mbps, 179th).
Northern America
Five countries were measured in Northern America, all of which were in the top quarter of the table. The region as a whole has an average speed of 83.74Mbps. The United States (118.01Mbps, 11th) led the region with Canada (106.80Mbps, 17th) coming a close second and Bermuda (91.96Mbps, 23rd) in third place. Meanwhile, Greenland (48.42Mbps, 51st) was the slowest in the region, followed by Saint Pierre and Miquelon (53.52Mbps, 46th).
Oceania
Of the 15 qualifying countries in Oceania, most were in the bottom half of the speed table. The region has an overall average of 20.45Mbps. Leading the regional table here is New Zealand (94.44Mbps, 21st), followed by Australia (47.22Mbps, 54th) in second place, with the Northern Mariana Islands (35.94Mbps, 75th) in third place. he slowest in the region were Wallis and Futuna (3.63Mbps, 198th), the Federated States of Micronesia (3.96Mbps, 192nd) and the Marshall Islands (5.76Mbps, 181st).
South America
The 13 countries measured in South America span from the middle to the lower end, with a regional average speed of 29.24Mbps. The fastest internet in South America can be found in Chile (89.18Mbps, 27th), Uruguay (59.29Mbps, 42nd) and Brazil (53.89Mbps, 45th). Venezuela (4.47Mbps, 187th), Suriname (9.48Mbps, 158th), and Bolivia (10.66Mbps, 147th) were the slowest in the region.
Sub-Saharan Africa
49 countries were measured in the second-slowest region Sub-Saharan Africa,which averaged a download speed of 8.88Mbps overall. All but four of the countries found themselves in the lowest 50% of countries in the league table. Going against the trend somewhat were Rwanda (52.17Mbps, 48th) in first place, Réunion (37.44Mbps, 74th), South Africa (28.62Mbps, 88th), and Madagascar (19.29Mbps, 109th). Meanwhile, Djibouti (2.34Mbps, 210th), Eritrea (1.89Mbps, 212th), Ethiopia (1.68Mbps, 213th), Somalia (1.60Mbps, 214th), Equatorial Guinea (1.34Mbps, 215th) and Guinea Bissau (0.98Mbps, 217th) all fell within the bottom ten countries in the world for network speed.
Western Europe
All 28 countries measured in Western Europe were in the top half of the table, with seven of them in the top ten in the world for internet speed. The regional average speed of 99Mbps makes it the fastest of the 13 global regions overall. Impressive average speeds were measured for regional top-three Jersey (256.59Mbps, 2nd), Iceland (216.56Mbps, 3rd) and Liechtenstein (166.22Mbps, 4th). The slowest places in the region were Faroe Islands (28.40Mbps, 89th), San Marino (40.34Mbps, 65th), and Guernsey (45.51Mbps, 59th).
Resources
Downloadable versions of the data set (.xls), the original press release and the research methodology (.pdf)
Press release
If you wish to see the original press release for this research, you can download it here as a PDF.
Methodology
Our research methodology and notes on how to interpret the data can be downloaded here as a PDF.
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