Analyst firm M-Lab and comparison site Cable.co.uk have today published their 2024 global broadband ISP speeds report, which reveals that the United Kingdom delivered an average (mean) download speed of 110.99Mbps (up from 93.62Mbps last year) – ranking us 35th fastest in the world (down from 34th in 2023).
The research itself stems from information gathered via 1.5 billion speed tests (up from 1.3bn last year), which were carried out across the world in 229 countries in a 12-month period up to 30th June 2024. The average global broadband download speed was recorded as 55.58Mbps (Megabits per second), which is up from 45.60Mbps last year.
Overall, the top five fastest “countries” in the world this year were found to be Iceland (279.55Mbps), Jersey – a British crown dependency (273.51Mbps), Macao (234.74Mbps), Liechtenstein (222.98Mbps) and Denmark (210.51Mbps). Most of these are in Europe and are very small or island nations, where Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks are usually prevalent.
On the flip side, the five countries in the world with the slowest network speeds were the British Indian Ocean Territory (2.38Mbps), Turkmenistan (2.72Mbps), Syria (2.80Mbps), Yemen (2.99Mbps) and Tajikistan (3.10Mbps). In fact 35 countries failed to achieve download speeds of 10Mbps or greater, which is deemed by Ofcom UK to be the minimum required to cope with the needs of a typical family or small business, although this figure is quite an old one.
At this point some might wonder, given the rapid rollout of FTTP, why the UK isn’t ranking even higher in 2024. But we suspect there could be several reasons for this, not least because many of the leading countries in this table have been building FTTP at scale for a lot longer. Not to mention that other countries have also been improving their speeds and take-up by consumers, so the world is far from standing still.
Caveats of the Data
As we’ve said before, speed testing-based reports like this should be taken with a pinch of salt because they can easily be misinterpreted. For example, nobody should be equating such studies to be directly reflecting the availability of faster connections, as the two are far from being in perfect sync.
On top of that, people are more likely to measure their speed if there is something wrong or if they aren’t getting the speed they need, which can produce a negative bias. The fact that the study also overlooks other key metrics, such as upload speeds and latency, is another consideration.
Just for some context on actual network availability in the UK. We reported last month (here) that “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) networks were available to 98% of premises, which falls to 83.4% for gigabit-capable (1000Mbps+) networks and 67.7% when only looking at FTTP technology. The government wants 85% to be within reach of gigabit speeds by the end of 2025 and nationwide (c.99%) coverage by the end of 2030.
Such testing can also be impacted by other factors, such as poor home wiring (copper lines), user choice of package (e.g. 1Gbps could be available, but people may pick a slower and cheaper tier), local network congestion (i.e. conducting a test while others or background tasks are using the network) and slow WiFi etc.
Finally, it’s unclear whether this study has also lumped mobile data (4G, 5G etc.) speeds or business connections in with residential fixed lines. Nevertheless, if we assume that such caveats will apply to all countries, then the data is still useful as a rough gauge of market change over time.
229 Countries Ranked by Average (Mean) Download Speed
Rank
Country
Avg. Download Speed (Mbps)
1
Iceland
279.55
2
Jersey
273.51
3
Macao
234.74
4
Liechtenstein
222.98
5
Denmark
210.51
6
Andorra
199.89
7
Netherlands
188.49
8
Gibraltar
180.91
9
France
176.97
10
Monaco
173.79
11
South Korea
172.53
12
United States
161.97
13
Switzerland
161.88
14
Uruguay
156.99
15
Sweden
156.42
16
Israel
153.61
17
Canada
152.25
18
Spain
148.63
19
Slovakia
145.19
20
San Marino
143.20
21
Malta
141.07
22
Norway
140.56
23
Japan
139.53
24
Hong Kong
138.18
25
Taiwan
136.58
26
Singapore
134.43
27
Belgium
124.78
28
New Zealand
124.01
29
Cayman Islands
118.83
30
Puerto Rico
118.54
31
Portugal
116.91
32
Isle of Man
116.58
33
Estonia
113.10
34
Hungary
112.15
35
United Kingdom
110.99
36
Lithuania
110.74
37
Bermuda
107.40
38
Romania
105.46
39
Poland
104.36
40
Ireland
102.96
41
Qatar
101.72
42
Chile
100.66
43
United Arab Emirates
99.26
44
Barbados
97.27
45
Latvia
95.50
46
Finland
95.13
47
Brazil
92.83
48
Slovenia
90.40
49
Germany
87.77
50
Serbia
86.36
51
U.S. Virgin Islands
83.51
52
Malaysia
82.38
53
British Virgin Islands
79.26
54
North Macedonia
79.09
55
Australia
77.99
56
Luxembourg
76.64
57
Guernsey
75.63
58
Czechia
74.41
59
Montenegro
73.93
60
Moldova
73.84
61
Greece
72.54
62
Grenada
72.49
63
Italy
72.45
64
Bahamas
72.34
65
St Kitts and Nevis
71.96
66
Thailand
67.75
67
Bulgaria
67.47
68
Russia
67.43
69
Bahrain
67.16
70
Aruba
67.06
71
Trinidad and Tobago
66.43
72
India
65.51
73
Austria
64.96
74
Åland Islands
64.28
75
Réunion
63.29
76
Peru
63.28
77
Brunei
62.61
78
Panama
62.43
79
Jamaica
62.13
80
Argentina
59.70
81
Kuwait
58.89
82
Oman
57.85
83
Saint Lucia
56.84
84
Faroe Islands
56.61
85
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
56.61
86
Saint Martin
56.00
87
Guadeloupe
55.28
88
Colombia
53.87
89
Costa Rica
53.39
90
Kosovo
53.29
91
St Vincent and Grenadines
52.14
92
Philippines
52.07
93
Turks and Caicos Islands
51.82
94
Vatican City
51.60
95
Cyprus
51.53
96
Saint Barthélemy
51.11
97
New Caledonia
50.61
98
Curaçao
49.61
99
Ukraine
49.39
100
Anguilla
49.23
101
Martinique
48.54
102
Dominican Republic
48.05
103
Dominica
47.90
104
Montserrat
46.34
105
Vietnam
45.92
106
Belarus
45.81
107
Ecuador
45.54
108
Bosnia and Herzegovina
45.51
109
Paraguay
45.10
110
Mexico
44.73
111
Greenland
42.69
112
French Guiana
42.68
113
Jordan
42.46
114
South Africa
42.42
115
Belize
41.72
116
Croatia
38.52
117
Saudi Arabia
37.65
118
China
37.56
119
Guatemala
37.34
120
Eswatini
37.23
121
Guam
36.40
122
El Salvador
35.90
123
Nicaragua
33.85
124
Antigua and Barbuda
32.98
125
Turkey
32.89
126
Rwanda
32.69
127
Mauritius
31.12
128
Albania
29.87
129
Northern Mariana Islands
29.80
130
Botswana
29.52
131
Guyana
28.57
132
Nigeria
27.62
133
Maldives
27.26
134
Marshall Islands
26.84
135
Armenia
26.78
136
Nepal
25.97
137
Bonaire Sint Eustatius and Saba
25.86
138
Palestine
25.20
139
Laos
25.14
140
Cambodia
24.54
141
Venezuela
23.33
142
Madagascar
22.57
143
Honduras
21.77
144
Bhutan
21.24
145
Uzbekistan
21.21
146
Georgia
20.83
147
Lesotho
20.71
148
Bolivia
20.14
149
Seychelles
20.09
150
Morocco
19.61
151
Indonesia
19.54
152
Mongolia
19.14
153
Sri Lanka
18.45
154
Sint Maarten
18.17
155
Samoa
17.82
156
Ivory Coast
17.67
157
São Tomé and Príncipe
17.45
158
Zimbabwe
16.77
159
Ghana
16.59
160
Congo Republic
16.25
161
American Samoa
16.17
162
Burkina Faso
15.91
163
Benin
15.54
164
Papua New Guinea
15.52
165
Gabon
14.85
166
Mayotte
14.50
167
Mozambique
14.15
168
French Polynesia
14.15
169
Kazakhstan
13.92
170
Azerbaijan
13.85
171
Suriname
13.79
172
Kenya
13.69
173
Uganda
13.59
174
Fiji
13.28
175
Myanmar
13.28
176
Tanzania
13.26
177
Haiti
13.21
178
Malawi
13.14
179
DR Congo
12.81
180
Angola
12.79
181
Egypt
12.64
182
Liberia
12.45
183
Algeria
12.35
184
Senegal
12.16
185
Solomon Islands
11.54
186
Namibia
11.48
187
Cabo Verde
11.44
188
Kyrgyzstan
11.31
189
Tunisia
11.18
190
Mauritania
10.94
191
Togo
10.54
192
Chad
10.47
193
Iraq
10.39
194
Palau
10.01
195
Iran
9.72
196
Lebanon
9.67
197
Bangladesh
9.22
198
Zambia
8.99
199
Guinea
8.55
200
Comoros
8.38
201
Libya
8.37
202
Cameroon
7.97
203
Pakistan
7.85
204
Vanuatu
7.67
205
Mali
7.66
206
South Sudan
7.47
207
Sierra Leone
7.24
208
Djibouti
7.21
209
Somalia
6.64
210
Burundi
6.07
211
Timor-Leste
6.00
212
Guinea-Bissau
5.63
213
Falkland Islands
5.34
214
Gambia
5.33
215
Federated States of Micronesia
5.32
216
Equatorial Guinea
5.27
217
Niger
4.97
218
Wallis and Futuna
4.66
219
Eritrea
4.61
220
Cuba
4.49
221
Ethiopia
4.45
222
Central African Republic
4.08
223
Sudan
4.02
224
Afghanistan
3.11
225
Tajikistan
3.10
226
Yemen
2.99
227
Syria
2.80
228
Turkmenistan
2.72
229
British Indian Ocean Territory
2.38