Singapore boasts the world’s best broadband speeds and strife-torn Yemen the worst, according to an analysis of data from 189 countries.Whereas it takes an average of 18 minutes to download a 7.5Gb film in Singapore, it would take more than two days in Yemen, according to data from more than 63 million broadband tests collected over 12 months by M-Lab – a partnership that includes New America’s Open Technology Institute, Google Open Source Research and Princeton University’s PlanetLab – and collated by Cable.co.uk.

European nations dominate top ten

Sweden comes second in the top 10 rankings and is joined by six other European nations as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong. The US comes in at 21st, Canada at 26, New Zealand at 30 and the UK at 31, ahead of France, Italy and Ireland but behind the likes of Germany, Spain, Estonia and Lithuania.Twenty of the top 30 fastest-performing countries are located in Europe, with seven in Asia, two in North America and one in Oceania. By contrast, 17 of the 30 slowest-performing countries are located in Africa, with seven in Asia, six in South America and one in Oceania.

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The data also showed that 139 countries failed to reach 10Mbps, which is deemed by the UK regulator Ofcom to be the minimum average speed required to handle typical family needs.“The research demonstrates the value of network measurements and open data across countries to understand where countries rank against each other and to provide evidence that facilitates public learning about broadband development,” said Collin Anderson, independent researcher at M-Lab.

UK trying to keep up with the fastest

Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms analyst at broadband advice site Cable.co.uk, said the results offer a fresh perspective on where the UK sits in the broadband world. “Relatively speaking, we are near the top of the table. However, many of those ahead of us – some a long way ahead – are our neighbours both in the EU and wider Europe,” he said.“Superfast rollout in the UK continues apace. Goals are being met, new initiatives undertaken and public funds being made available. However, clearly there are lessons to be learned both from Europe and from those topping the table.“Not least is the importance of reaching those with the lowest speeds, predominantly in very rural and/or hard-to-reach areas, but also greater investment in hyperfast networks, which currently reach only two per cent of properties in the UK, compared to Sweden or Latvia, say, where it exceeds 40 per cent.”Top 31 nations with mean download speed (Mbps)1 Singapore 55.132 Sweden 40.163 Taiwan 34.44 Denmark 33.545 Netherlands 33.526 Latvia 30.367 Norway 29.138 Belgium 27.379 Hong Kong 27.1610 Switzerland 26.9311 Lithuania 25.1212 Japan 24.4713 Estonia 24.1114 Jersey 23.315 Hungary 23.1616 South Korea 22.917 Portugal 21.7218 Romania 21.3319 Finland 20.920 Macau 20.5221 United States 2022 Spain 19.623 Slovakia 18.8524 Germany 18.825 Slovenia 18.3726 Canada 18.0327 Bulgaria 17.5428 Czech Republic 17.3129 Thailand 16.8530 New Zealand 16.631 United Kingdom 16.51To find the full table of results click here.For related news and features, visit our Technology section.

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