Photo: Jeff Greenberg
The Internet has been around for nearly a half-century, yet it wasn’t until recent years that internet addiction was classified as an official disorder. It isn’t any ordinary disorder, either. It affects a large percentage of the globe, particularly in first-world countries where sitting at a desk eating Funyons for days on end is a completely valid thing to do.
To better understand this growing internet addiction, Compare the Market has performed analysis to identify the availability of WiFi spots and internet access among hundreds of countries. With those findings, we can now gain some insight into what countries have most quickly adopted internet during the past 30 years. Below you will find a list of the top 15 most internet addicted countries along with their data points.
15. Denmark
Free WiFi Spots: 8,013
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 122
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 97
While most known for its colorful buildings and windmills (it produces 42% of its power from wind), Denmark just makes the cut on this list thanks to its incredibly high internet adoption. At 97% it’s one of the highest in the world. No wonder Denmark churns out so many great eSports players.
14. Japan
Free WiFi Spots: 21,777
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 131
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 93
Japan has always been a premier tech destination, so it’s no surprise that it made the list. Although its 14th spot is a little disappointing, that’s only a result of its low number of WiFi spots. Virtually every other statistic shows that Japan is a heavily internet reliant and often addicted place, especially when you head to large cities like Tokyo where nerdiness is seen as attractive.
13. Austria
Free WiFi Spots: 10,411
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 164
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 84
Austria isn’t exactly a country you hear about often, but apparently, its citizens love the internet almost as much as they love their coffee houses and making boring looking flags.
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12. Germany
Free WiFi Spots: 56,910
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 126
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 90
Bratwurst online ordering has revolutionized Germany, making it close to hitting the top 10 list of most internet addicted countries. The moment same-day online beer ordering is made available, you can count on Germany quickly moving up this list.
11. Luxembourg
Free WiFi Spots: 1,160
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 133
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 98
With a population of under 600,000 citizens, Luxembourg is the smallest country to make this list. While it might not be a densely populated place, its people love watching cat videos enough that 98% of them have internet access, the highest percent of a population of any country.
10. South Korea
Free WiFi Spots: 59,052
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 121
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 93
South Korea is a technologically savvy country known for its cultural appreciation of competitive video games and posting Instagram photos of every meal. It’s surprising that it didn’t rank higher, but 10th out of 195 countries is quite good when you think about it.
9. United Kingdom
Free WiFi Spots: 58,400
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 120
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 95
When English people aren’t busy drinking tea, you can bet they’re on the internet doing something. The UK is one of the rainiest and overcast places in the world, after all.
8. Saudi Arabia
Free WiFi Spots: 208,932
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 149
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 74
The middle east doesn’t fare well when it comes to internet adaptability, but there are two exceptions to the rule. One we’ll talk about in a second, and the other is Saudi Arabia. The sword on its flag might indicate that it’s still living in pre-BC times, but it has more WiFI spots than just about any other country in the world. I wouldn’t mess with them.
7. Hong Kong
Free WiFi Spots: 4,750
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 241
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 87
Hong Kong is, generally speaking, a very prosperous place where well-off people live. While the number of people using the internet in the country is lower than most countries on this list, those who do on average have 2.4 cellular subscriptions at their disposal. Maybe they drop a lot of phones and don’t want to replace them, or maybe there’s a lot of drug dealing going on. We’re not certain, but we do know that 241 mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people is the second highest of any country in the world.
6. Bahrain
Free WiFi Spots: 4,034
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 210
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 98
Tying Luxembourg with 98% of its population using the internet, Bahrain is a surprisingly internet friendly place and that’s probably because it’s one of the major financial hubs in the East.
5. United Arab Emirates
Free WiFi Spots: 65,606
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 215
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 91
Now that we’re in the top five we’re looking at some seriously internet addicted countries, the first of which is the United Arab Emirates. This country has quite a huge divide between rich and poor, with oil companies bringing in billions of dollars for the country. As a result, its internet stats are some of the healthiest in the world, only held back its low number of WiFi spots.
4. Russia
Free WiFi Spots: 311,586
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 159
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 73
Russia is one very cold place, so it’s no surprise that many of its inhabitants rely on a nice, warm gaming PC for enjoying the evenings. It’s a particularly mobile friendly part of the world, with over 300,000 WiFi spots and 159 cellular subscriptions per 100 people. Frankly, it should be #1 if not for the millions of Russians who live in desolate areas that don’t even have internet access.
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3. Macau
Free WiFi Spots: 292
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 322
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 82
322 mobile cellular subscriptions… that’s more than three per person on average. I don’t know what’s going on in Macau, but its flag suggests that it’s growing some kind of five-star illegal narcotics.
2. Brazil
Free WiFi Spots: 559,490
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 118
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 61
Brazil dominates when it comes to WiFi spots with over 550,000 of them across its huge landmass. These WiFi spots provide internet access for tens of millions of impoverished citizens who otherwise would be separated from one of mankind’s greatest innovations. The country has a long way to go toward making internet readily available to everyone, but until then WiFi will be the common go-to .
1. United States
Free WiFi Spots: 515,925
Mobile Cellular Subscriptions (per 100 people): 123
Individuals Using the Internet (% of Population): 76
The United States invented the internet. It’s home to the world’s greatest tech hubs, and is where the latest and greatest internet technologies are birthed, from 4G LTE in 2010 to gigabit internet in recent years that allows you to instantly watch YouTube videos at 4K resolution and 60 frames per second. It was only natural that it would top this list.
Fun fact: the average American spends 24 hours per week online. No other country can top that.
