The new study comes from the communications retailer Carphone Warehouse and it looks into over 30 countries, to create ‘The Connectivity Index‘. The index highlights the countries with the highest number of Internet hosts (a service that runs Internet servers), number of 5G deployments ( a theoretical peak download speed of 20 gigabits per second), among others factors (there were sixteen different metrics deployed in total).
The headline from the survey is that the top three most connected countries include:
U.S.: The U.S. is the best connected country ranking first for number of internet hosts and one of the highest producing electricity.
Switzerland: With the highest number of 5G deployments, Switzerland ranks as the second best connected country. The country also has the best rail infrastructure.
United Arab Emirates: The UAE ranks as the third most connected country of 2019 with one of the highest mobile speeds across all countries.
While the U.S. is at number one, and comes out highest for the number of air passengers, plus Internet hosts; mobile speed remains relatively slow and access to primary education is very low for a high income country. The U.S. has an average connection speed of 18.7 Mb/s. South Korea boasts the highest mobile speed (28.6 Mb/s) and Saudi Arabia comes in top with the best access to primary education.
Overall, the index assessed data such as:
Movement: number of air passengers, number of tourists, rail infrastructure quality and road quality.
Information: number of 5G deployments, number of internet hosts, mobile speeds and electricity production.
Global Connectivity: balance of trade, number of immigrants, passport power and share of GDP per capita.
Social Connectivity: access to primary education, ethnic diversity, marriage rates, number of social media users.
The remainder of the top ten are: South Korea, China, Spain, France , Germany, Netherlands and Australia. The U.K. is 13th and Canada is unranked.
