Worldwide broadband speed league 2024

Cable.co.uk collated and analysed over 1.5 billion speed tests in 12 months ending 30 June 2024 to reveal broadband speeds in 229 countries

Download data (.xls)

Highlights

Here is a quick look at some of the highlights unearthed in the study.

#1. Iceland

In 2020, Iceland became the top country in Europe for Full Fibre penetration, and provides speeds of at least 100Mbps to 99.9% of its population. It moves into the top position from fourth place last year.

#2. Jersey

Jersey was the first jurisdiction in the world to make pure fibre (FTTP) available to every broadband user. Jersey Telecom now offers all of its population download speeds of up to 944Mbps.

#3. Macau

Macau has remained in third place this year, with little significant increase in its average network speeds, indicating take-up saturation of current infrastructure.

#4. Liechtenstein

99% 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's a look at the five fastest and slowest countries in the world in terms of average internet download speeds.

Top five fastest countries

Country	Average speed in Mbps
Iceland	279.55
Jersey	273.51
Macau	234.74
Liechtenstein	222.98
Denmark	210.51

Top five slowest countries

Country	Average speed in Mbps
British Indian Ocean Territory	2.38
Turkmenistan	2.72
Syria	2.80
Yemen	2.99
Tajikistan	3.10

Regions

Here we take a closer look at the average speed across 13 global regions.

Global region totals	Average Mbps
Western Europe	141.12
Baltics	106.45
Northern America	104.18
Eastern Europe	76.58
Asia (Ex. Near East)	57.24
Caribbean	53.44
Near East	50.27
South America	44.38
Central America	41.39
Oceania	28.86
CIS	22.70
Sub-Saharan Africa	14.99
Northern Africa	12.52

Asia (Ex. Near East)

28 countries were measured in the Asia (ex. Near East) region, which clocked in a regional average speed of 57.24Mbps. The fastest average speeds were measured in Macau (234.74Mbps, 3rd), South Korea (172.53Mbps, 11th), and Japan (139.53Mbps, 23rd). British Indian Ocean Territory (2.38Mbps, 229th, last place), Afghanistan (3.11Mbps, 224th), and Timor-Leste (6.00Mbps, 211th) were the slowest in the region.

Position: 5th
Total counties tested: 28
Average download speed: 57.24Mbps
Total speed tests: 576,579,707
Total unique IPs: 155,293,080
Average time for 5GB movie (HH:MM:SS): 00:45:03

Baltics

The Baltics, comprising three qualifying countries, ranked entirely within the top 50, and have an overall regional average of 106.45Mbps. Estonia fared best in 33rd place overall and with an average speed of 113.10Mbps. Lithuania (110.74Mbps, 36th), and Latvia (95.50Mbps, 45th) followed behind.

Position: 2nd
Total counties tested: 3
Average download speed: 106.45Mbps
Total speed tests: 226,560
Total unique IPs: 45,341
Average time for 5GB movie (HH:MM:SS): 00:06:27

Caribbean

Overall the Caribbean region fared well for what are essentially island nations, with three of its 28 countries featuring in the top 50 fastest countries in the world. Overall, the region offers a respectable 53.44Mbps on average. At the faster end, the Cayman Islands (118.83Mbps, 29th), Puerto Rico (118.54Mbps, 30th), and Barbados (97.27Mbps, 44th) led the way, while Cuba (4.49Mbps, 220th), Haiti (13.21Mbps, 177th), and Sint Maarten (18.17Mbps, 154th) were the slowest.

Position: 6th
Total counties tested: 27
Average download speed: 53.44Mbps
Total speed tests: 1,331,843
Total unique IPs: 347,661
Average time for 5GB movie (HH:MM:SS): 00:19:27

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 41.39Mbps. The fastest average speeds can be found in Panama (62.43Mbps, 78th), Costa Rica (53.39Mbps, 89th), and Mexico (44.73Mbps, 110th). Meanwhile, Honduras (21.77Mbps, 143rd), Nicaragua (33.85Mbps, 123rd), and El Salvador (35.90Mbps, 122nd) all performed relatively poorly.

Position: 9th
Total counties tested: 8
Average download speed: 41.39Mbps
Total speed tests: 18,362,929
Total unique IPs: 5,789,326
Average time for 5GB movie (HH:MM:SS): 00:18:01

CIS

Of the 10 CIS nations in the table, most can be found from the middle of the table downwards. The region had an average speed of 22.70Mbps. The top three fastest nations in the region are Russia (67.43Mbps, 68th), Belarus (45.81Mbps, 106th), and Armenia (26.78Mbps, 135th). The slowest countries in the region were Turkmenistan (2.72Mbps, 228th), Tajikistan (3.10Mbps, 225th), and Kyrgyzstan (11.31Mbps, 188th). Both Tajikistan and Turkmenistan were among the slowest 5 countries in the world.

Position: 11th
Total counties tested: 10
Average download speed: 22.70Mbps
Total speed tests: 3,037,000
Total unique IPs: 701,730
Average time for 5GB movie (HH:MM:SS): 01:14:32

Eastern Europe

There are 17 qualifying countries in the Eastern Europe region, all bar two of which are in the top half of the table, with six making it into the top 50. Overall the region averages 76.58Mbps. The fastest three were Slovakia (145.19Mbps, 19th), Hungary (112.15Mbps, 34th) and Romania (105.46Mbps, 38th). The slowest three were Albania (29.87Mbps, 128th), Croatia (38.52Mbps, 116th), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (45.51Mbps, 108th).

Position: 4th
Total counties tested: 17
Average download speed: 76.58Mbps
Total speed tests: 15,217,858
Total unique IPs: 2,576,790
Average time for 5GB movie (HH:MM:SS): 00:10:26

Near East

The 15 countries in the Near East measured for this year's speed league table span the entire table. The average download speed for the region is 50.27Mbps. The fastest countries were Israel (153.61Mbps, 16th), Qatar (101.72Mbps, 41st) and United Arab Emirates (99.26Mbps, 43rd). The slowest were Syria (2.80Mbps, 227th), Yemen (2.99Mbps, 226th) and Lebanon (9.67Mbps, 196th).

Position: 7th
Total counties tested: 15
Average download speed: 50.27Mbps
Total speed tests: 5,423,294
Total unique IPs: 1,776,655
Average time for 5GB movie (HH:MM:SS): 00:50:21

Northern Africa

Northern Africa recorded the slowest overall internet speeds as a collective region, with an average speed of just 12.52Mbps. Morocco (19.61Mbps, 150th), Egypt (12.64Mbps, 181st), and Algeria (12.35Mbps, 183rd) offered the fastest speeds in the region. Libya (8.37Mbps) recorded the slowest speed in 195th place, followed by Mauritania (10.94Mbps, 190th), and Tunisia (11.18Mbps, 189th).

Position: 13th
Total counties tested: 6
Average download speed: 12.52Mbps
Total speed tests: 21,081,362
Total unique IPs: 5,108,319
Average time for 5GB movie (HH:MM:SS): 00:58:11

Northern America

Five countries were measured in Northern America, all of which were in the top half of the table. The region as a whole has an average speed of 104.18Mbps. The United States (161.97Mbps, 12th) led the region with Canada (152.25Mbps, 17th) coming a close second, and Bermuda (107.40Mbps, 37th) in third place. Meanwhile, Greenland (42.69Mbps, 111th) was the slowest in the region, followed by Saint Pierre and Miquelon (56.61Mbps, 85th).

Position: 3rd
Total counties tested: 5
Average download speed: 104.18Mbps
Total speed tests: 398,595,901
Total unique IPs: 89,551,216
Average time for 5GB movie (HH:MM:SS): 00:08:37

Oceania

Of the 16 qualifying countries in Oceania, most were in the bottom half of the speed table. The region has an overall average of 28.86Mbps. Leading the regional table here is New Zealand (124.01Mbps, 28th), followed by Australia (77.99Mbps, 55th) in second place, with New Caledonia (50.61Mbps, 97th) in third place. The slowest in the region were Wallis and Futuna (4.66Mbps, 218th), the Federated States of Micronesia (5.32Mbps, 215th) and Vanuatu (7.67Mbps, 204th).

Position: 10th
Total counties tested: 16
Average download speed: 28.26Mbps
Total speed tests: 33,936,278
Total unique IPs: 8,146,747
Average time for 5GB movie (HH:MM:SS): 00:50:38

South America

The 13 countries measured in South America span the whole table, with a regional average speed of 44.38Mbps. The fastest internet in South America can be found in Uruguay (111.46Mbps, 20th), Chile (85.49Mbps, 40th) and Brazil (72.70Mbps, 48th). Venezuela (10.92Mbps, 168th), Suriname (12.48Mbps, 159th), and Bolivia (16.00Mbps, 148th) were the slowest in the region.

Position: 8th
Total counties tested: 13
Average download speed: 44.38Mbps
Total speed tests: 105,619,542
Total unique IPs: 31,814,517
Average time for 5GB movie (HH:MM:SS): 00:24:02

Sub-Saharan Africa

50 countries were measured in second-slowest region Sub-Saharan Africa, which averaged a download speed of 14.99Mbps overall. All but two of the countries found themselves in the slowest half of the league table. Going against the trend somewhat were Réunion (63.29Mbps, 75th), South Africa (45.42Mbps, 114th), and Eswatini (37.23Mbps, 120th). Meanwhile, Sudan (4.02Mbps, 223rd), Central African Republic (4.08Mbps, 222nd), and Ethiopia (4.45Mbps, 221st) all fell among the slowest ten countries in the world for average network speed.

Position: 12th
Total counties tested: 50
Average download speed: 14.99Mbps
Total speed tests: 36,330,261
Total unique IPs: 3,313,634
Average time for 5GB movie (HH:MM:SS): 01:07:55

Western Europe

All 29 countries measured in Western Europe were in the top half of the table, with an incredible nine of them in the top ten. The regional average speed of 138.47Mbps makes it the fastest of the 13 global regions overall. Impressive average speeds were measured for regional top-three Iceland (279.55Mbps, fastest in the world), Jersey (273.51Mbps, 2nd) and Liechtenstein (222.98Mbps, 4th). The slowest places in the region were Vatican City (Holy See) (51.60Mbps, 94th), Faroe Islands (56.61Mbps, 84th), and Åland Islands (64.28Mbps, 74th).

Position: 1st
Total counties tested: 29
Average download speed: 138.47Mbps
Total speed tests: 303,405,783
Total unique IPs: 86,163,943
Average time for 5GB movie (HH:MM:SS): 00:06:04

Historical averages

Tracking broadband speed measurements in 229 countries and territories 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.

Year	Average download (Mbps)	Change (Mbps)	Percentage
2024	55.38	+8.59	18.35%
2023	46.79	+7.41	30.04%
2022	35.98	+6.19	20.78%
2021	29.79	+4.96	19.98%
2020	24.83	+13.8	125.11%
2019	11.03	+1.89	20.68%
2018	9.14	+1.73	23.35%
2017	7.41	-	-

Our comments on the research

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.

Resources

Downloadable versions of the data set (.xls), the original press release and the research methodology (.pdf)

League table

The full data set can be downloaded here.

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Press release

If you wish to see the original press release for this research, you can download it here as a PDF.

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Methodology

Our research methodology and notes on how to interpret the data can be downloaded here as a PDF.

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Contact us

Dan Howdle

Consumer telecoms analyst

Email: dan@cable.co.uk