Which countries have the fastest internet speeds in Europe?

Every person living and working as a digital nomad has different priorities when it comes to their dream destination. However, what they can pretty much all agree on, is that reliable and preferably fast internet is non-negotiable and an essential box which must be ticked before heading to a new place. Below we’re going to look at European internet speeds and compare countries around the continent.

Table of Contents

• European Internet Speeds by Country 2023 – Fixed Broadband
• European Internet Speeds by Country 2023 – Mobile
• Other factors to consider when looking for the best internet in Europe

The data comes via speedtest.net, one of the best sites out there for measuring internet speeds. It was compiled in October 2023 using median speeds according to their tests in Mbps (rounded up/down to the nearest Mbps). Their figures are updated monthly, so head over there to check out their more recent rankings and to compare European countries with others around the globe.

Read on to find out which European countries have the fastest and slowest internet speeds, both in terms of broadband and mobile. In this article, we have included the internet speeds for both EU and non-EU countries where available.

European Internet Speeds by Country 2023 – Fixed Broadband

Country	Internet Speed (Mbps)
Denmark	204
Spain	188
France	187
Romania	179
Switzerland	174
Monaco	157
Hungary	156
Liechtenstein	150
Portugal	144
The Netherlands	143
Poland	125
Moldova	120
Sweden	117
Norway	113
Luxembourg	107
Malta	105
Lithuania	104
Finland	100
Ireland	93
Belgium	91
Andorra	90
Slovenia	87
Germany	87
United Kingdom	83
Russia	82
Latvia	79
Austria	76
Estonia	75
Bulgaria	74
Slovakia	73
San Marino	72
Ukraine	71
Serbia	70
Cyprus	69
Italy	67
Czechia	64
Kosovo	62
Montenegro	57
Belarus	53
Albania	49
Croatia	48
Armenia	47
Greece	46
North Macedonia	39
Turkey	37
Azerbaijan	29
Bosnia and Herzegovina	28
Georgia	26

As you can see, there’s a pretty wide range here with broadband internet in the fastest countries, around eight times quicker than the slowest ones. Denmark tops this rundown of the fastest internet in Europe by country, but relatively high living costs mean it isn’t exactly a practical destination for digital nomads or remote workers.

There are though several more affordable countries which can take pride in their internet speeds. Romania really stands out with an impressive average speed of 179 Mbps and it is considerably faster than the internet in a host of wealthier countries in Western and Central Europe such as the UK, Austria and Germany. 

Hungary is another affordable country east of the old iron curtain with great internet speeds while Spain also ranks well with the best internet speeds in Europe (broadband) behind Denmark. However you’re unlikely to run into serious trouble in countries midway down the rankings unless you’re doing seriously intensive work, with speeds of 50 Mbps or more, still more than quick enough for most online needs.

At the bottom end, one or two countries in the Balkans and particularly the South Caucasus states of Georgia and Azerbaijan offer some of the slowest internet speeds in Europe.

European Internet Speeds by Country 2023 – Mobile

Country	Internet Speed (Mbps)
Norway	143
Bulgaria	129
Denmark	128
The Netherlands	120
Portugal	101
Sweden	99
Finland	92
Luxembourg	92
Switzerland	91
Croatia	91
Lithuania	84
France	83
North Macedonia	82
Austria	82
Estonia	78
Greece	69
Latvia	68
Belgium	68
Cyprus	66
Slovenia	62
Germany	61
Romania	53
Czechia	52
Malta	51
Albania	51
Montenegro	51
Serbia	51
Italy	49
Poland	47
Hungary	46
Kosovo	45
Azerbaijan	45
Slovakia	45
United Kingdom	44
Spain	40
Turkey	36
Georgia	36
Ireland	34
Moldova	31
Ukraine	25
Russia	25
Bosnia and Herzegovina	22
Armenia	21
Belarus	11

A look at the fastest internet speeds in Europe takes on a slightly different picture when we look at mobile data. Spain and Romania, which ranked in the top five for broadband connections, sink way down the chart with considerably slower mobile networks.

Denmark posts impressive figures again but it is Norway that has comfortably the fastest mobile internet speeds in Europe according to this data (which doesn’t feature every single European country). Portugal, The Netherlands and Bulgaria complete the top five with the latter another strong option for remote workers given the low cost of living.

By contrast, Belarus ranks by far the slowest in terms of mobile internet speeds, with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Armenia not doing much better. However it is worth pointing out that many countries towards the bottom of the above table, would still rank comfortably above halfway in the global rankings and Europe on the whole does boast some of the fastest internet speeds in the world, both in terms of broadband and mobile.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Republic of Ireland has the slowest mobile internet speeds in the EU of the countries where data was available.

Other factors to consider when looking for the best internet in Europe

The above tables provide a pretty good picture of the average speeds across a country as a whole, as of October 2023. However things can change quite quickly with networks in many countries improved and enhanced on a regular basis.

There is significant regional variation in many countries though. For example, some nations have very fast internet in their capital cities and main economic centres, but speeds and coverage can reduce dramatically as you head out into the provincial towns and villages. Therefore the median speeds outlined above may not always be the best indicator of the actual internet speed in the town or city you are heading to.

Even within a particular city, much will depend on the kind of internet package and connection you will be using in your accommodation or place of work. If you will be working a lot from home (in an Airbnb for example), it’s worth double checking this in advance and not just assuming you will have fast internet because the country ranks well when it comes to internet speed tests. There’s info here on how Airbnb hosts calculate their internet speeds.

Also, as the above tables demonstrate, fast broadband speeds do not necessarily equate to fast mobile internet speeds. Consider which one will be more important to you. In some cases, mobile speed and coverage is actually a more important barometer, particularly if you’re somebody who likes to work on the move and you use your mobile as a hotspot.