Internet Speeds by Country and Region

Asian and European nations performing well; Americas and Africa still slow.

World Speeds Up 66% • Broadband Speeds by Country • Internet Performance by Region & Regional Breakdowns • Methodology & Data

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.

Are you researching this topic? Please contact our team with any questions. We offer free consultation on basic requests.

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

2020 has been the year of vastly improved internet speeds for users worldwide. Only 10% of countries have seen a fall in broadband performance over the previous year, and median speeds have gone up by over 100% for 32 countries. Of the remaining countries, internet speeds were over 50% faster in 49 countries when comparing 2020 to 2019.

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%

Internet Speed by Worldwide Region

Europe fastest region in the world with a median internet speed of 30.15mbp
Oceana and Americas second and third respectiveily, though less than 0.5% difference in their speeds
African internet speeds low; European internet connections were over 455% faster in 2020

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

Northern Europe performed strongly in 2020, with a median internet speed of 40.40mbps, 27% faster than North America, and 13% ahead of its nearest neighbors in Western Europe. Unsurprisingly, the poorest performing parts of Europe were the Southern European nations. As we can see in the regional breakdowns, Italy stands out for its surprisingly bad internet performance, with a 2020 median speed of 12.71mbps.

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.

The good news for streamers is that every European country has a median internet speed above 5.0mbps, Netflix's minimum requirement for HD quality streaming. 23 nations have median speeds above 25mbps, which will let users watch Netflix shows in full 4k, Ultra HD quality.

European broadband performance by country

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

Western Europe Broadband Speeds

Big increases YoY for Sweden (53%) and the Netherlands (43%)
While France's median internet speed is still low at 23.01mbps, its 2019-2020 increase of 70% is notable
Austria, in a similar position, also saw a good year-on-year rise of 44%

Eastern Asia Internet Performance

Hong Kong 124% faster in 2020 than 2019, now 3rd fastest country in the world
Japan holding steady with a median internet speed of 31.70mbps, 51% faster than 2019
China's low position likely due to a lack of measurement servers in mainland China

North America Internet Speeds

United States over 90% faster in 2020
Canada dropped from 39th fastest in 2019 to 54th fastest in 2020
Despite the drop, Canada's speeds are 31% faster in 2020

Internet Speeds in Eastern Europe

Hungary and Romania 100% and 102% faster in 2020, respectively
Poland's internet speeds lost pace in 2020, rising 48% but falling 5 places in world rankings, from 28th to 33rd
While Russia's internet performance looks slow, it has increase by 41% since 2019

Broadband Performance in Southern Europe

Italy continues its record for poor performance, dropping to 67th from 60th in 2019
Montenegro a surprise winner, increasing its internet speeds by 118% from 2019-2020
Spain is getting faster, its median speed of 23.41mbps now 73% faster than in 2019

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

Latin American and The Caribbean: internet performance

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.