Internet Speeds by Country and Region
Asian and European nations performing well; Americas and Africa still slow.
Introduction
- US ranks 23rd, up from 29th in 2019; UK now 31st, down from 25th; Germany 27th, up from 30th; Hong Kong rises to 3rd from 7th
- 90% of countries saw faster broadband in 2020. 57% saw speeds go up by half; speeds doubled for 23% of nations
- World internet speeds up 66% YoY, from 16.31mbps in 2019 to 27.10mbps in 2020
The world has followed America's trend in 2020, with median speeds overall up by two thirds from 16.31mbps to 27.10 measured over 2020 and compared against broadband speed data in 2019.
Jersey heads up our 2020 league table with a median speed of 199.15mbps, followed by Denmark, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Andorra. Bermuda, Luxembourg, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Barbados at 60.25mbps. The large spread in mbps between first and 10th places (199.15mbps to 60.25mbps) indicates that there is still a lot of work to do before the majority of consumers worldwide are experiencing high-speed internet.
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This content is licensed CC BY-ND 4.0. When referencing or citing FairInternetReport data and content on third-party sites, please link your attribution to the source page on fairinternetreport.com.

Published: December 21st 2020
Updated: December 21st 2020
Internet Speed by Country
- US has 4% slower internet than Puerto Rico, the USA ranking 23rd with 33.16mbps, and Puerto Rico 21st with 34.44 mbps.
- The UK is only the 21st fastest country in Europe, with internet 10% slower than the European median of 30.15mbps
- Jersey has the fastest internet speeds in 2020, rising 216% to 199.15mbps from 2019's 62.93mbps
Rank | Country | Region | 2020 Mbps | 2019 Mbps | vs. 2020 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jersey | Northern Europe | 199.15 | 62.93 | 216.46% | |
2 | Denmark | Northern Europe | 123.96 | 75.60 | 63.97% | |
3 | Hong Kong | Eastern Asia | 115.98 | 51.83 | 123.77% | |
4 | Switzerland | Western Europe | 110.77 | 64.67 | 71.28% | |
5 | Andorra | Southern Europe | 104.68 | 96.12 | 8.91% | |
6 | Bermuda | Northern America | 102.77 | 10.09 | 918.53% | |
7 | Luxembourg | Western Europe | 92.76 | 58.60 | 58.29% | |
8 | Sweden | Northern Europe | 75.54 | 53.00 | 42.53% | |
9 | Netherlands | Western Europe | 70.32 | 42.99 | 63.57% | |
10 | Barbados | Latin America and the Caribbean | 60.25 | 12.90 | 367.05% | |
11 | Iceland | Northern Europe | 58.29 | 20.05 | 190.72% | |
12 | Finland | Northern Europe | 57.78 | 41.39 | 39.60% | |
13 | Belgium | Western Europe | 47.24 | 31.03 | 52.24% | |
14 | Malta | Southern Europe | 44.59 | 25.74 | 73.23% | |
15 | Monaco | Western Europe | 42.71 | 27.35 | 56.16% | |
16 | Norway | Northern Europe | 41.66 | 26.33 | 58.22% | |
17 | Hungary | Eastern Europe | 40.79 | 20.36 | 100.34% | |
18 | New Zealand | Australia and New Zealand | 39.86 | 20.06 | 98.70% | |
19 | Singapore | South-eastern Asia | 38.33 | 27.10 | 41.44% | |
20 | Slovenia | Southern Europe | 35.04 | 26.34 | 33.03% | |
21 | Puerto Rico | Latin America and the Caribbean | 34.44 | 14.57 | 136.38% | |
22 | Romania | Eastern Europe | 33.49 | 16.53 | 102.60% | |
23 | United States of America | Northern America | 33.16 | 17.34 | 91.23% | |
24 | Cayman Islands | Latin America and the Caribbean | 32.37 | 25.09 | 29.02% | |
25 | Japan | Eastern Asia | 31.70 | 20.99 | 51.02% | |
26 | Latvia | Northern Europe | 31.38 | 35.18 | -10.80% | |
27 | Germany | Western Europe | 29.64 | 17.04 | 73.94% | |
28 | Lithuania | Northern Europe | 28.38 | 24.91 | 13.93% | |
29 | South Korea | Eastern Asia | 27.78 | 10.29 | 169.97% | |
30 | Estonia | Northern Europe | 27.26 | 23.21 | 17.45% | |
31 | United Kingdom | Northern Europe | 27.23 | 19.72 | 38.08% | |
32 | Slovakia | Eastern Europe | 27.03 | 18.00 | 50.17% | |
33 | Poland | Eastern Europe | 26.18 | 17.68 | 48.08% | |
34 | Australia | Australia and New Zealand | 25.44 | 15.59 | 63.18% | |
35 | Portugal | Southern Europe | 24.75 | 15.64 | 58.25% | |
36 | Thailand | South-eastern Asia | 24.39 | 15.73 | 55.05% | |
37 | Israel | Western Asia | 24.04 | 10.77 | 123.21% | |
38 | Qatar | Western Asia | 23.63 | 9.92 | 138.21% | |
39 | Spain | Southern Europe | 23.41 | 13.55 | 72.77% | |
40 | Ireland | Northern Europe | 23.36 | 13.99 | 66.98% | |
41 | France | Western Europe | 23.01 | 13.53 | 70.07% | |
42 | Austria | Western Europe | 22.03 | 15.35 | 43.52% | |
43 | Montenegro | Southern Europe | 21.43 | 9.84 | 117.78% | |
44 | Czechia | Eastern Europe | 20.87 | 14.66 | 42.36% | |
45 | Bulgaria | Eastern Europe | 20.74 | 13.47 | 53.97% | |
46 | El Salvador | Latin America and the Caribbean | 19.85 | 3.12 | 536.22% | |
47 | Croatia | Southern Europe | 19.82 | 13.54 | 46.38% | |
48 | Uruguay | Latin America and the Caribbean | 19.59 | 12.81 | 52.93% | |
49 | Macao | Eastern Asia | 19.27 | 8.31 | 131.89% | |
50 | Taiwan | Eastern Asia | 19.26 | 23.41 | -17.73% | |
51 | Bahamas | Latin America and the Caribbean | 18.90 | 7.87 | 140.15% | |
52 | Trinidad and Tobago | Latin America and the Caribbean | 18.87 | 7.96 | 137.06% | |
53 | Curaçao | Latin America and the Caribbean | 18.76 | 10.64 | 76.32% | |
54 | Canada | Northern America | 18.69 | 14.24 | 31.25% | |
55 | Panama | Latin America and the Caribbean | 18.21 | 10.50 | 73.43% | |
56 | Virgin Islands | Latin America and the Caribbean | 16.48 | 19.66 | -16.17% | |
57 | Réunion | Sub-Saharan Africa | 15.90 | 8.02 | 98.25% | |
58 | Malaysia | South-eastern Asia | 15.84 | 15.44 | 2.59% | |
59 | Serbia | Southern Europe | 15.62 | 11.54 | 35.36% | |
60 | Greece | Southern Europe | 15.16 | 10.06 | 50.70% | |
61 | Russia | Eastern Europe | 14.81 | 10.53 | 40.65% | |
62 | Cambodia | South-eastern Asia | 14.76 | 2.41 | 512.45% | |
63 | United Arab Emirates | Western Asia | 14.65 | 12.27 | 19.40% | |
64 | Belize | Latin America and the Caribbean | 13.47 | 10.34 | 30.27% | |
65 | Costa Rica | Latin America and the Caribbean | 13.10 | 6.06 | 116.17% | |
66 | Guam | Micronesia | 12.85 | 2.18 | 489.45% | |
67 | Italy | Southern Europe | 12.71 | 8.94 | 42.17% | |
68 | Bahrain | Western Asia | 12.50 | 6.52 | 91.72% | |
69 | Isle of Man | Northern Europe | 12.44 | 8.06 | 54.34% | |
70 | Moldova | Eastern Europe | 11.98 | 10.18 | 17.68% | |
71 | Cyprus | Western Asia | 11.57 | 5.68 | 103.70% | |
72 | Viet Nam | South-eastern Asia | 11.46 | 6.34 | 80.76% | |
73 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Southern Europe | 11.26 | 5.99 | 87.98% | |
74 | Ukraine | Eastern Europe | 11.21 | 6.26 | 79.07% | |
75 | Belarus | Eastern Europe | 10.36 | 8.69 | 19.22% | |
76 | Guadeloupe | Latin America and the Caribbean | 8.92 | 5.11 | 74.56% | |
77 | South Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa | 8.24 | 5.01 | 64.47% | |
78 | Chile | Latin America and the Caribbean | 8.07 | 4.88 | 65.37% | |
79 | Mexico | Latin America and the Caribbean | 7.91 | 5.27 | 50.09% | |
80 | Georgia | Western Asia | 7.84 | 5.98 | 31.10% | |
81 | Albania | Southern Europe | 7.81 | 5.62 | 38.97% | |
82 | Madagascar | Sub-Saharan Africa | 7.80 | 8.43 | -7.47% | |
83 | Brazil | Latin America and the Caribbean | 7.70 | 2.88 | 167.36% | |
84 | India | Southern Asia | 7.53 | 5.88 | 28.06% | |
85 | Jordan | Western Asia | 7.27 | 4.46 | 63.00% | |
86 | Turkey | Western Asia | 7.10 | 4.90 | 44.90% | |
87 | Saudi Arabia | Western Asia | 6.93 | 4.04 | 71.53% | |
88 | Jamaica | Latin America and the Caribbean | 6.89 | 4.26 | 61.74% | |
89 | North Macedonia | Southern Europe | 6.73 | 5.17 | 30.17% | |
90 | Tunisia | Northern Africa | 6.52 | 4.36 | 49.54% | |
91 | Mauritius | Sub-Saharan Africa | 6.15 | 5.49 | 12.02% | |
92 | Armenia | Western Asia | 5.91 | 3.95 | 49.62% | |
93 | China | Eastern Asia | 5.56 | 2.93 | 89.76% | |
94 | Philippines | South-eastern Asia | 5.52 | 3.38 | 63.31% | |
95 | Kuwait | Western Asia | 5.33 | 4.99 | 6.81% | |
96 | Dominican Republic | Latin America and the Caribbean | 5.22 | 2.63 | 98.48% | |
97 | Paraguay | Latin America and the Caribbean | 5.04 | 3.46 | 45.66% | |
98 | Kyrgyzstan | Central Asia | 4.90 | 1.92 | 155.21% | |
99 | Indonesia | South-eastern Asia | 4.90 | 3.66 | 33.88% | |
100 | Oman | Western Asia | 4.85 | 4.24 | 14.39% | |
101 | Sri Lanka | Southern Asia | 4.81 | 5.45 | -11.74% | |
102 | Peru | Latin America and the Caribbean | 4.74 | 3.30 | 43.64% | |
103 | Myanmar | South-eastern Asia | 4.61 | 3.35 | 37.61% | |
104 | Tanzania | Sub-Saharan Africa | 4.50 | 1.14 | 294.74% | |
105 | Ecuador | Latin America and the Caribbean | 4.40 | 2.54 | 73.23% | |
106 | Morocco | Northern Africa | 4.16 | 3.80 | 9.47% | |
107 | Bolivia | Latin America and the Caribbean | 3.94 | 2.06 | 91.26% | |
108 | Guatemala | Latin America and the Caribbean | 3.88 | 2.28 | 70.18% | |
109 | Nicaragua | Latin America and the Caribbean | 3.79 | 1.68 | 125.60% | |
110 | Azerbaijan | Western Asia | 3.56 | 1.47 | 142.18% | |
111 | Haiti | Latin America and the Caribbean | 3.54 | 2.87 | 23.34% | |
112 | Egypt | Northern Africa | 3.39 | 1.51 | 124.50% | |
113 | Palestine | Western Asia | 3.39 | 1.58 | 114.56% | |
114 | Kenya | Sub-Saharan Africa | 3.29 | 4.26 | -22.77% | |
115 | Kazakhstan | Central Asia | 2.95 | 2.20 | 34.09% | |
116 | Ghana | Sub-Saharan Africa | 2.93 | 1.46 | 100.68% | |
117 | Guyana | Latin America and the Caribbean | 2.88 | 1.76 | 63.64% | |
118 | Iraq | Western Asia | 2.88 | 1.32 | 118.18% | |
119 | Iran | Southern Asia | 2.81 | 1.59 | 76.73% | |
120 | Senegal | Sub-Saharan Africa | 2.76 | 2.90 | -4.83% | |
121 | Argentina | Latin America and the Caribbean | 2.74 | 1.38 | 98.55% | |
122 | Honduras | Latin America and the Caribbean | 2.64 | 2.43 | 8.64% | |
123 | Uganda | Sub-Saharan Africa | 2.60 | 1.07 | 142.99% | |
124 | Nepal | Southern Asia | 2.34 | 2.32 | 0.86% | |
125 | Mozambique | Sub-Saharan Africa | 2.29 | 0.76 | 201.32% | |
126 | Colombia | Latin America and the Caribbean | 2.29 | 1.73 | 32.37% | |
127 | Nigeria | Sub-Saharan Africa | 1.99 | 1.20 | 65.83% | |
128 | Uzbekistan | Central Asia | 1.56 | 1.13 | 38.05% | |
129 | Somalia | Sub-Saharan Africa | 1.34 | 0.61 | 119.67% | |
130 | Pakistan | Southern Asia | 1.33 | 0.86 | 54.65% | |
131 | Namibia | Sub-Saharan Africa | 1.32 | 1.72 | -23.26% | |
132 | Bangladesh | Southern Asia | 1.32 | 1.44 | -8.33% | |
133 | Maldives | Southern Asia | 1.24 | 0.72 | 72.22% | |
134 | Cameroon | Sub-Saharan Africa | 1.21 | 1.09 | 11.01% | |
135 | Libya | Northern Africa | 1.20 | 1.86 | -35.48% | |
136 | Angola | Sub-Saharan Africa | 1.04 | 2.24 | -53.57% | |
137 | Lebanon | Western Asia | 0.99 | 0.80 | 23.75% | |
138 | Algeria | Northern Africa | 0.98 | 1.07 | -8.41% | |
139 | Côte d'Ivoire | Sub-Saharan Africa | 0.92 | 1.87 | -50.80% | |
140 | Ethiopia | Sub-Saharan Africa | 0.50 | 0.34 | 47.06% | |
141 | Afghanistan | Southern Asia | 0.37 | 0.41 | -9.76% | |
142 | Yemen | Western Asia | 0.36 | 0.29 | 24.14% |
Broadband Performance by Worldwide Subregion
- Northern and Western Europe fastest subregions in the world
- North America 4th with a median speed of 31.73mbps, behind Eastern Asia, but ahead of Austrlia and New Zealand on 27.94mbps
- The worst internet speeds are found in North Africa and Central Asia
European Internet Speeds by Country
- The United Kingdom not looking good for post-Brexit internet performance, its median speed of 27.23mbps is nearly 10% slower than the European median of 30.15mbps, and is poor compared to major European nations.
- Only 4 European nations have a median internet speed above 100mbps: Jersey; Denmark; Switzerland; and Andorra
- 20 countries have a median speed below Netflix's 25mbps requirement for Ultra HD streaming.
Rank in Europe | Country | 2020 Mbps | vs. European Median | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jersey | 199.15 | 560.53% | |
2 | Denmark | 123.96 | 311.14% | |
3 | Switzerland | 110.77 | 267.40% | |
4 | Andorra | 104.68 | 247.20% | |
5 | Luxembourg | 92.76 | 207.66% | |
6 | Sweden | 75.54 | 150.55% | |
7 | Netherlands | 70.32 | 133.23% | |
8 | Iceland | 58.29 | 93.33% | |
9 | Finland | 57.78 | 91.64% | |
10 | Belgium | 47.24 | 56.68% | |
11 | Malta | 44.59 | 47.89% | |
12 | Monaco | 42.71 | 41.66% | |
13 | Norway | 41.66 | 38.18% | |
14 | Hungary | 40.79 | 35.29% | |
15 | Slovenia | 35.04 | 16.22% | |
16 | Romania | 33.49 | 11.08% | |
17 | Latvia | 31.38 | 4.08% | |
18 | Germany | 29.64 | -1.69% | |
19 | Lithuania | 28.38 | -5.87% | |
20 | Estonia | 27.26 | -9.59% | |
21 | United Kingdom | 27.23 | -9.68% | |
22 | Slovakia | 27.03 | -10.35% | |
23 | Poland | 26.18 | -13.17% | |
24 | Portugal | 24.75 | -17.91% | |
25 | Spain | 23.41 | -22.35% | |
26 | Ireland | 23.36 | -22.52% | |
27 | France | 23.01 | -23.68% | |
28 | Austria | 22.03 | -26.93% | |
29 | Montenegro | 21.43 | -28.92% | |
30 | Czechia | 20.87 | -30.78% | |
31 | Bulgaria | 20.74 | -31.21% | |
32 | Croatia | 19.82 | -34.26% | |
33 | Serbia | 15.62 | -48.19% | |
34 | Greece | 15.16 | -49.72% | |
35 | Russia | 14.81 | -50.88% | |
36 | Italy | 12.71 | -57.84% | |
37 | Isle of Man | 12.44 | -58.74% | |
38 | Moldova | 11.98 | -60.27% | |
39 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 11.26 | -62.65% | |
40 | Ukraine | 11.21 | -62.82% | |
41 | Belarus | 10.36 | -65.64% | |
42 | Albania | 7.81 | -74.10% | |
43 | North Macedonia | 6.73 | -77.68% |
Internet Speeds in Northern Europe
- Jersey - a British Crown dependency - is the outlier, 61% faster than Denmark, and 216% faster than in 2019
- The UK's broadband performance - only 22% as fast as Denmark - makes it nearly the slowest country in Northern Europe. The UK's annual speed increase of 38% is disappointing.
- Ireland also worryingly slow, though rural landscape likely a contributing factor, and a 2019-2020 increase of 69% is welcome news
Internet Performance in Western Asia
- Israel is the fastest country in Western Asia with a median internet speed of 24.04mbps, a year-on-year rise of 123%
- Qatar also doing well, rising 138% to 23.63mbps and up from position 58 to 38th.
- Very low speeds seen in some West Asian countries; even with Azerbaijan's 142% rise, their median broadband speed is still just 3.56mbps
Broadband Speeds in South-Eastern Asia
- Philippines still has poor performance, despite its heavy remote-working population, with a median speed of 5.52mbps
- Cambodia doing well, though its 512% rise possibly due to a lack of data, only 8,990 tests performed in 2020
- Thailand a success story, 55% faster internet speeds in 2020, a median speed of 24.39mbps, and up against strong competition in position 36
Latin America & The Caribbean Internet Performance
- Barbados has a massive 367% speed increase, though with only 13,000 tests performed in 2020, this may be due to limited data
- Puerto Rico - with 120,000 tests - grew its speeds impressively to 34.44mbps (an increase of 136.38%), and rising 17 places to 21st
- Notable that Latin American countries are distinctly slower than most Caribbean nations
Southern Asia Broadband Speeds
- While Southern Asia's internet speeds are relatively low, they are increasing in line with the rest of the world
- India has shown a good increase of 28% over 2019 to 2020, although its median internet speed of 7.53mbps still has some way to come
- Similarly, Pakistan's low speed of 1.33mbps is still 55% faster than the 0.86mbps recorded in 2019
Internet Speeds in Sub-Saharan Africa
- South Africa's median internet speed is now at 8.24mbps, a rise of 64% on 2019's median speed of 5.01mbps
- Tanzania saw a great improvement, rising 295% from 1.14mbps in 2019 to 4.50mbps in 2020
- Mozambique's 2020 broadband performance is also noticeable, rising from 0.76mbps in 2019 up to 2.29mbps in 2020, a rise of over 200%
Methodology & Data
We analyzed the Web100, NDT5, and NDT7 datasets from Measurement Lab - excluding "noisy" results, including those from Cellular connections via MaxMind's Connection Type database, and results slower than 10kbps - using Google BigQuery, creating a custom set of speed test data broken down by region, country and city, covering the years 2019 and 2020.
Counties with fewer that 5,000 tests/year were excluded from our rankings; we consider 5,000 tests/yeat to be a low bar for country statistics to cross, and that any counties with fewer tests could not be reliably ranked.
The custom dataset was imported into Microsoft SQL Server for rapid-access querying, and the resulting graphs used on this page were created in DataGraph.
Counties with fewer that 5,000 tests/year were excluded from our rankings; we consider 5,000 tests/yeat to be a low bar for country statistics to cross, and that any counties with fewer tests could not be reliably ranked.
The custom dataset was imported into Microsoft SQL Server for rapid-access querying, and the resulting graphs used on this page were created in DataGraph.