Countries With The Fastest Internet Revealed: South Korea Tops List, US Places 12th

What do South Korea and Hong Kong have in common with Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland? They're the world's leaders when it comes to fast internet.

The five countries, in order, topped the list of countries with the fastest internet in the latest "State of the Internet" report by Akamai, a content delivery network. The average speed in South Korea is 26.3 mbps, followed by Hong Kong with 20.1 mbps, Norway with 20 mbps, Sweden with 19.7 mpbs, and Switzerland with 18.4 mbps.

Closely following Switzerland is Singapore, Japan, Finland, the Netherlands, Latvia, and Denmark. The US was on 12th place with 16.3 mbps in average internet speed.

The study also measured peak internet speeds or the maximum that a connection can go. On that aspect, Singapore leads the pack with 162 mpbs, followed by Hong Kong with 116.2 mpbs and South Korea with 114.2 mbps.

The US did not place well because of its old internet infrastructure and a lack of competition in the broadband market, Business Insider reports. Despite this, the average internet speed in the US actually increased by 6.8 percent from the previous quarter, and is well above the global average of 6.3 mbps.

South Korea's achievement, on the other hand, is a result of almost two decades of efforts, Quartz reports. The South Korean government began to boost its broadband industry in the 1990s by liberalizing the telecoms sector, building the necessary infrastructure for high-speed internet, and implementing policies that ensured a highly competitive broadband market.

Places on top the list benefited from their high urban population densities, which make setting up fast internet connections easier, according to Quartz. Eighty percent of South Koreans are urban dwellers, while Hong Kong and Singapore both have a 100 percent urban population.

Akamai's data for its latest report were gathered during the third quarter of this year. The information included connection speeds, as well as adoption metrics in fixed and mobile networks.