These Are the Countries with the Fastest Internet Speed in Europe (Slowest Ones too!) – 2023 Update

Nowadays, when you’re traveling, one thing is really high on our “must have” list: solid internet. We always need to be online, to be connected – and if you are a digital nomad, a fast internet connection is a must to be able to work.

If you’re planning to travel to Europe, you definitely want to know which are the countries with the fastest internet here, as well as the ones with the slowest speeds.

More and more people are now choosing their next destination based not only on the beauty of the places or the prices, but also the speed of the internet connections. And if you travel to Europe, you’ll be generally happy with the internet speed and its reliability.

The European countries do really well when it comes to the average internet speed, with some being absolutely amazing, and other just good. You will rarely find crappy internet in Europe – but that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

We’re going to check out which are the countries with the fastest internet in Europe, as well as those with the slowest, but also see what “fast” and “slow” internet means here.

I initially published this article back in 2016, when the numbers were much different than what we have today and I kept updating it every year with new data.

Just to see how much things have changed, I will leave below the screenshot showing the best internet speed in Europe in 2016, with values that would now be considered decent at best.

(IMPORTANT: SCROLL DOWN FOR RECENT NUMBERS!)

Things have changed in the past few years and many countries are now offering amazing connections of up to 1Gbps. But averaging the numbers will result in some strange values in some cases.

This is caused by the fact that in most places, larger cities in general have better connections (and more options) that smaller towns and villages.

So even though in Romania it’s easy and cheap to get a 1Gbps fiber internet plan in any city, most of the villages wouldn’t really be able to keep up, but they will still have decent options (100+ Mbps in most cases).

This is very important to know, because it is how things are, more or less, everywhere. So if the average shown below is impressive, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get such speed anywhere in the country.

But this is still better than nothing, and I am sure you’re curious to see how things stand today, in 2023.

So without further ado, let’s check out the winners and the losers. We’ll start with the broadband (cable) internet speed.

Countries with the fastest internet in Europe (2023)

1. Denmark: 188 Mbps
2. Romania: 170 Mbps
3. Spain: 166 Mbps
4. France: 160 Mbps
5. Iceland: 159 Mbps
6. Hungary: 155 Mbps
7. Switzerland: 154 Mbps
8. Sweden: 150 Mbps
9. Liechtenstein: 130 Mbps
10. Malta: 120 Mbps
11. Netherlands: 120 Mbps
12. Norway: 115 Mbps
13. Luxembourg: 110 Mbps
14. Andorra: 102 Mbps
15. Germany: 100 Mbps
16. Portugal: 94 Mbps
17. Finland: 94 Mbps
18. Poland: 90 Mbps
19. Belgium: 88 Mbps
20. Moldova: 84 Mbps
21. Lithuania: 83 Mbps
22. Latvia: 83 Mbps
23. Ireland: 82 Mbps
24. Slovakia: 81 Mbps
25. Slovenia: 79 Mbps
26. United Kingdom 78 Mbps
27. Bulgaria: 69
28. Czechia: 67 Mbps
29. Serbia: 61 Mbps
30. Italy: 60 Mbps
31. Ukraine: 59 Mbps
32. Estonia: 58 Mbps

Countries with the slowest internet in Europe (2023)

Now let’s check out the 10 countries in Europe that offer the slowest internet speeds in 2023 (remember: first is worst here)!

1. Georgia: 26 Mbps
2. Bosnia & Herzegovina: 27 Mbps
3. Turkey: 30 Mbps
4. North Macedonia: 33 Mbps
5. Cyprus: 40 Mbps
6. Greece: 42 Mbps
7. Albania: 44 Mbps
9. Croatia: 46 Mbps
10. Kosovo: 50 Mbps

As you can see, Romania, which was once considered the fastest in the world in terms of broadband internet connection speeds has now fallen behind a bit.

But these are averages only, as you can still get a 1Gbps plan in Romania in all major cities (and for around 10 Euros/month too!).

Another interesting thing to note is that countries that depend a lot on Internet nowadays (like Malta and Estonia) have climbed quite a bit compared to previous years, even though Cyprus, which is in a similar situations sits toward the bottom.

Also, I have to say that in most countries in Europe (even in the bottom ten), in the large cities you will get much better internet speeds than in the rest of the country.

So you shouldn’t have major problems if you choose the larger cities as your next destination and the speeds will probably be much above the averages.

It is interesting to see how much Hungary has climbed the charts, definitely helped by the fact that it has become a real digital nomad hub: I loved Hungary, especially Budapest, which is one of my favorite cities in the world!

It’s unfortunate – but expected – to see some very popular destinations for digital nomads at the bottom of the list: countries like Greece, Croatia and Georgia are very popular hubs for DNs, but apparently they can’t keep up with the demand.

Still, comparing the data today to the data in 2016, things are much improved. And, by all means, even the lowest ranked country still offers speeds high enough to perform almost any activity that requires internet, and do so without any hiccups or problems.

Mobile internet speed in Europe in 2023

Another important thing to note is that the speed of mobile internet has some completely different rankings – the ones above are for broadband internet connections.

But if you plan to use your phone mostly – or you want to get a mobile data plan or sim card for when you are in Europe, we have a completely different picture.

Even more surprising is, in my opinion, the fact that countries ranking pretty low in terms of cable internet speed rank really high in terms of mobile internet speed.

This is great because it gives you solid options: you can simply get a mobile internet plan and turn your phone into a hotspot for super fast internet. The downside here is that, compared to broadband internet, mobile internet is still much more expensive.

Here is some data regarding the fastest and slowest mobile internet speeds on the continent:

1. Norway (131 Mbps)
2. Denmark (113 Mbps)
3. Netherlands (109)
4. Bulgaria (103)
5. Sweden (85)
6. Finland (83)
7. Switzerland (77)
8. Luxembourg (76)
9. Croatia (70)
10. North Macedonia (66)
11. Portugal (65)
12. Cyprus (64)

Slowest mobile internet speeds are in Belarus (12 Mbps), Ukraine (13), Ireland (25) and Kosovo (26). I am really surprised to see Ireland here, honestly!

Interesting enough, the second placed in broadband internet speed, Romania, only has an average of 41 Mbps on mobile, further showing us that fast broadband doesn’t necessarily equal fast mobile internet too.

Just look at the fastest 10 countries above: it’s a completely different set of countries ranking there, with Bulgaria among the best (it was second last year, but dropped a bit), but also with Croatia, North Macedonia and Cyprus scoring well.

Internet speed in Europe: conclusions

Hopefully the list above makes it a lot easier for you to understand which countries in Europe have great, fast internet and which don’t.

In some cases, slow internet speeds can definitely prove to be deal breakers, but that is up for you to decide in the end.

It looks that countries like Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia score low in both categories, meaning that it won’t be easy to have a solid internet connection in those countries. But all the others offer decent speeds either on mobile or broadband (or both).

What do you say? Do you consider internet speed when choosing your next destination or internet doesn’t matter that much for you?

Resources & data via Wikipedia, Cable.co.uk & Speedtest.net.