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The REAL connection speeds for Internet users across the world (charts)

Posted in Main on November 12th, 2010 by Pingdom

Internet connection speed

How fast are Internet connections across the world? How fast are they in your country?

This article examines the real-world connection speeds for people in the top 50 countries on the Internet, i.e. the countries with the most Internet users.

This list of countries ranges from China at number 1 with 420 million Internet users, and Denmark at number 50 with 4.75 million Internet users. We’ve included this ranking within parenthesis next to each country in the charts below for those who want to know.

These 50 countries together have more than 1.8 billion Internet users.

Why connection speeds matter

Why would you be interested in knowing how Internet connection speeds are distributed among various countries? Here’s why:

  • As an Internet user, you can get an idea of how your own Internet connection speed holds up against others in your country.
  • As a Web service provider or website owner, you get an idea of what kind of Internet connection speeds your customers are likely to have in different countries. This is highly relevant if you want them to have a positive user experience. This naturally applies to web developers in general as well, who should be well aware of the capacity of people’s Internet connections.

Thanks to data directly from the world’s largest CDN provider, Akamai, we were able to create this report for you. Real connection speeds for Internet users from all over the world. The data is from the second quarter of 2010, so it’s up to date.

(Just in case you don’t know about them, Akamai is the big dog among content delivery network (CDN) providers. The company has servers all over the world and reportedly can handle as much as 15-20% of all Web traffic on any given day. This puts Akamai in a unique position since they can measure actual download speeds all over the world on a consistent basis.)

Average connection speeds

Before we go on to see how each country’s connection speeds are distributed, let’s look at the average connection speed for each country.

As we mentioned before, the number you see within parenthesis next to each country is its worldwide rank in terms of Internet users, i.e. its size on the Internet. The chart is sorted by the average connection speed.

Average Internet connection speeds for 50 countries

Some observations:

  • South Korea, as is well known, is something of an Internet speed king, and that’s made abundantly clear in this chart. At an average connection speed of almost 17 Mbit/s it thoroughly outclasses the competition.
  • China, although the largest country on the Internet, still lags behind when it comes to Internet connection speeds. Its average of 0.86 Mbit/s is far below the world average of 1.8 Mbit/s (see below).
  • And speaking of China, Hong Kong, technically a part of China but separated in most surveys for statistical purposes, is clearly far ahead of its mother country. With Hong Kong’s average connection speed of 8.6 Mbit/s, it’s second only to South Korea.
  • It’s also interesting that all three top positions are in Asia.
  • Of the top 10 in this “speed list,” three are from Asia, and seven from Europe.
  • Canada beats the United States, barely, with 4.7 Mbit/s versus 4.6 Mbit/s.

Worldwide averages

The average connection speed for Internet users worldwide, not just among these 50 countries, but all countries, is an average of 1.8 Mbit/s. As an average, this is actually pretty good, but as you’ve seen, there are plenty of extremes in either direction.

And here’s how the various connection speeds are distributed. Once again, this is not among these 50 countries, this is for the world seen as a whole (from Akamai’s perspective).

Internet connection speed distribution worldwide

It’s quite encouraging that as many as 22% of the connections are 5 Mbit/s or faster, and even more that more than half of all connections are 2 Mbit/s or faster.

Connection speed distribution

Now on to the prettiest of these charts… What you see here below is how the connection speeds of each country are distributed, just as in the worldwide chart. It’s great for giving you a good overview of the situation in each country, since an overall average can only tell you so much.

Internet connection speed distribution in 50 countries
The country list is sorted by average connection speed.

As this chart shows, the slowest connection types (less than 256 kbit/s) have almost been eradicated in many countries. However, in many developing nations these still make up a significant portion of the connections.

Real connection speeds are what matter

The speeds in this article are actual connection speeds. We’re not showing what people are paying for, we’re showing what kind of real-world speeds they are actually getting. After all, we all know that ISPs don’t always deliver the kind of connection speeds that they promise in their ads.

As we mentioned earlier, Akamai was kind enough to provide us with the connection speed data for this article, which made all the difference. (A big thank you to David Belson at Akamai for his help.)

So now that you have this report in front of you, why not take a close look at how fast the Internet is in your country? And how does your own connection measure up?

Data sources: Akamai for connection speeds, Internet World Stats for Internet user numbers.

We’ll be doing at least one more post based on the data we got from Akamai, so keep your eyes open.

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This isn’t actually “speed” though, is it? It’s bandwidth. Google’s Mike Belshe released data this year showing that network latency rather than bandwidth had a greater affect on the speed of browsing. I’d be very interested to see how each country lines up in terms of network latency, both in country (to popular sites) but also to the rest of the world.

India has slower Internet connections than Kazakhstan! For shame my countrymen, for shame…

None of the analysis matters unless you provide the exact way in which the bandwidth was actually measured.

I 100% agree with Tom. These numbers are really only relevant to people who are downloading / steaming content (of any type/form). The REAL connection measurement for Internet users is latency. It doesn’t matter if I have a 17mbps connection in Korea (which I have had the pleasure of experiencing there), if everything is 1000ms or more of latency away it will still be a poor user experience. I’m not saying that is the case, I’m just saying those are the numbers I’d be most interested in seeing.

Echoing the comments of Tom and Jeremy, I’d like to ask for a bit of clarification. What exactly do these measurements measure? Are you talking about available theoretical bandwidth based on capacity or on actual data transmission time from a source to a consumer?

@Nicholas and anyone else who asked about what is measured. Considering Akamai is a CDN provider, you can rest pretty assured that these numbers are based on actual data transmissions from Akamai’s edge servers to consumers.

Does anyone know if this data includes phones? Like would it recorded the speed of a connection if I went to a web site on my phone. If so, I think that would effect USA a great deal.

Interesting graph, but I hope you could publish a similar insight for The top 50 internet-using countries (highest penetration). It should make for some interesting comparative perspectives. You could have a third showing speed/Facebook penetration.

I agree with Tom and Jeremy. Latency is what you should really look at.

I currently live in Australia where I have a 8Mbit ADSL line with 600ms latency to the main websites. Well, my browsing experience is far worse than I had in Morocco with 2Mbit ADSL line and 150ms latency.

So while this chart is informative, it’s also quite deceptive because unless we’re solely discussing video streaming, it doesn’t reflect the quality of the user experience at all.

It would be interesting it know how these figures compare with the advertised speeds. I have seen claims that in some countries the advertised figures actually have to match real ones (eg http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/conex/current/msg00228.html, claiming that for Sweden).

Fascinating article – well done Akamai and Pingdom for publishing this. Sadly Tom is right. Even if every country has the same bandwidth as South Korea, we’ll still be waiting for pages to load. Bandwidth is a measurement of capacity, not speed. A good illustration is a water faucet – bandwidth is the width of the pipe, latency is the water pressure.

Sorry, but after seeing the barchart with country rankings I can immediately dismiss this as complete and utter bullshit. The average internet user in Thailand does not get 2.9Mbps througput. The average user in Thailand may have a 8Mbps signal rate but in reality the international throughput is most likely less than 200kbps. Whatever method you used to collect your data, you need to revisit it…

For example in Kazakstan average speed <512 kbit/sec

That why KZ in 50 place

Very very incorrect data !!!!!!!

I’m living in Hong Kong and has 100Mbps broadband. Download files from Akamai CDN around 88Mbps. But it is only the local speed. Connection outside Hong Kong are much slower.

Hong Kong may hit No.1 in next few years I guess. ISPs, include the large market share ISP in Hong Kong, promote 100Mbps now. Monthly fee in Hong Kong only around USD25, most people will upgrade to faster network in their next contract.

So this shows download speeds; after all, it’s Akamai data. I’m as interested in upload speeds. Services like Skype, YouTube and Flickr depend on users to send large files and streams. Skype and Microsoft work with 720p HD webcams, but you need about 1 MB up to send. As the webcams and mobile phone video cameras swing to higher resolutions, the distribution of the ability to send is as important as the ability to receive.

Akamai is unlikely to have real world upstream data. Who would?

I live in Moldova where I have a 100/60Mbps (local/outside speed) and my monthly fee only 15$ USD. For example http://speedtest.net/global.php

@KristoferA – In Thailand, the problem is with international bandwidth, not the local connection. At the office I have a 10Mbps connection, but internationally I am lucky if I get 1Mbps. At home it’s the same, my 8Mbps connection is again lucky to reach 1Mbps internationally.

Akamai has a lot of servers in Thailand, as do several other CDNs, which is why downloading from Apple, Microsoft, Adobe and other large sites often gives you full speed (as they’re using CDNs).

So I think that there’s nothing wrong with this article. In Thailand, international bandwidth is the problem.

moldova’s internet speed has from 5-20 mb/s. Where is result from Moldova?

In Russian:
———-
Скорость/througput, представленные на Диаграмме с Akamai data – нужная инфо и для обычных users!
Hа моём компе :
1) througput меняется на порядок в зависимости от времени суток;
2) througput, “измеренная” с 7.00-7.30 равна 2-2.5 Mbps;
3) througput, “измеренная” c 8.00 и > равна 100 – 300 Kbps ;
4) средний результат, указанный на Диаграмме для Israel и = 3.29 Mbps, никогда не достигался / достигается при “измерениях” на моём компе;
5) Ежемесячная плата около USD35.
————————————–
In English:
———
Speed / througput, presented in the chart with Akamai data – info needed for normal users!
Ha my competence:
1) througput changing the order depending on time of day;
2) througput, “measured” from 7.00-7.30 is 2-2.5 Mbps;
3) througput, “measured” c 8.00, and> is 100 – 300 Kbps;
4) the average result shown in the diagram for Israel and = 3.29 Mbps, never reached / achieved
when “dimensions” on my comp;
5) The monthly fee of about USD35

Why you listed this graphs without Republic of Moldova?

As far as I can see from above comments most (if not all) of ISPs are cheating their customers with connection speed. Cyprus is not mentioned here. But I have private (ADSL 0.5/5Mbps up/down) and business (ADSL 0.2/2Mbps up/down) connections but I could measure contract values only after midnight and till early morning and during daytime download speed I often get only 10-20% of contract values. This happens mostly not because of poor equipment used but simply providers are quite lazy to organize proper traffic shaping and they allow a few % of customers to grab all bandwidth of overseas channels.

South Korea is Excellent, Best Korea Total Network Company is KT!!

you are missing many other top countries – chek out this statistics
http://www.speedtest.net/global.php#0

http://speedtest.net/global.php ftw.
Owns this noob list, which ignores 145 other world countries.

@Janis and Latvia: We chose to limit this to the 50 countries with the most Internet users, or else the charts would have become way too large and difficult to read. Yes, there are many more countries, but these 50 countries make up more than 90% of the Internet population.

Very interesting indeed. I live in the Philippines, and I am saddened to say that until now we don’t have decent internet lines in our area.

look at Iran :) ))))
should laugh or weep ?? :( ((

Where is result from Belarus?

2Jayraj,

Do not worry. Kazakhstan is a former soviet republic with comparatively developed infrastructure (telephone lines etc.) built in 60`s and 80`s. So it was easier for them to establish Inet connection.
Besides, India is much bigger. And its more difficult to create infrastructure at once. Good luck!

India is not much more than Kazakhstan. But with more than mastered. In Kazakhstan, a lot of empty spaces and the need to pull the cable through the desert terrain without any infrastructure. It is very expensive.

Is there any particular reason that Singapore is not in the list?

Average Monthly Latency Data from Verizon Business Networks

http://www.verizonbusiness.com/about/network/latency/

Here is a small sample of the data:

Verizon Business Latency Statistics in ms (Goal)

Latin America (140.000) 137.14
EMEA to Asia Pacific (250.000) 130.49
Trans Pacific (160.000) 109.89
Asia Pacific (125.000) 100.78
Trans Atlantic (90.000) 79.75
North America (45.000) 42.39
Europe (30.000) 16.09
Intra-Japan (30.000) 10.63

Wow that is somewhat surprising that the US is so low on the list. We need to improve our infrastructure or something. I definitely thought we would be higher.

That’s a fact! here in the Philippines the widely used internet package(widely home used) was 50kbps throughput. That was last 3-4 years ago and now ISPs upgraded their speed to 2mbps (around 200kB/s+ throughput)

You also need to consider location of the web server, because while it is relatively easy to increase bandwidth, decreasing latency is very expensive.

Whow, we dutchies are doing fine!

Would have expected more from China.

Im in china and internet is real slow i heard of updates taking less than minutes for others and me it took literaly 5 hours

Nokia and Symbian still on top of the mobile web, but for how long?

Posted in Main on February 22nd, 2012 by Pingdom

Perceptions matter, and the perception of Nokia in the news, on the web, and in the minds of many, is that things aren’t going that well. Even in the Pingdom office, we hear “Nokia is doomed,” but do the numbers support this belief?

Looking at the statistics, Symbian leads the mobile operating system race with just over 30% of web browsing traffic. That’s down slightly from late last year, when we noted that Symbian finished 2011 as the top mobile operating system, with almost 34% of the mobile OS market.

What is even more interesting, however, is that Nokia is also ahead when we look at figures for all the mobile handset vendors. In fact, Nokia is way ahead of Apple, and Android lags far behind.

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Pingdom Podcast #9 – DDoS attacks

Posted in Main, Podcast on February 19th, 2012 by Pingdom

Pingdom’s Podcast is a weekly show about Internet, web, security, and mobile stuff.

In this show, we talk mainly about Distributed Denial of Service attacks. Some fresh research shows an increase in smaller, more targeted DDoS attacks, and hacker group Anonymous has vowed to take down the Internet by launching a DDoS attack on the 13 root DNS servers.

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Posted in Main on February 17th, 2012 by Pingdom

Every Friday we bring you a collection of links to places on the web that we find particularly newsworthy, interesting, entertaining, and topical. We try to focus on some particular area or topic each week, but in general we will cover Internet, web development, networking, performance, and other geeky topics.

This week we bring you a collection of articles focusing on OpenStack.

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Almost 8 new Internet users added worldwide every second (infographic)

Posted in Main on February 16th, 2012 by Pingdom

By some measures, more than 7 billion people now inhabit the world, and more than a third of us are on the Internet. But how many are added each day, each week, or each minute? We think we have a pretty good idea.

Read on for some pretty amazing numbers.

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Pingdom Podcast #8 – supercomputers

Posted in Main, Podcast on February 15th, 2012 by Pingdom

Pingdom’s Podcast is a weekly show about Internet, web, security, and mobile stuff.

In this show, we can finally talk about Saleh’s Carbon for Windows Phone app being available in Windows Marketplace. We also talk to Rich Brueckner of InsideHPC.com about the world of supercomputers.

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