Country Reports: Indicators

Internet Society Pulse uses data from trusted sources to show the health and development of the Internet around the world. We try to align our data updates with our sources, either through automation or manual methods. We don’t have data for all indicators for every country or territory.

You can see our list of trusted data partners here.

We use ISO 3166 country codes and names to define countries. On maps we use, the boundaries of countries, regions, and subregions are those indicated by the UN Geospatial Network. Internet Society does not hold any opinion whatsoever concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area of its authorities.

Sources: ISO, UN Geospatial Network

The country-code top-level domain is a domain reserved for a country, dependent territory, or sovereign state. One reason we use the ISO 3166 standard is to ensure that we have a profile page for every ccTLD. This is important for tracking Internet health and development.

The population of each country or territory, where available.

Updates: Yearly, but not by every country

Source: World Bank

We use the UN M49 Standard for country groupings. We use these groupings so that countries can be compared across categories, and so that users can identify patterns that recur in or between groupings.

These are:

• Least Developed Countries (LDC)
• Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC)
• Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

Countries in these groups face significant challenges to their economy, infrastructure and environment.

The World Bank assigns the world’s countries into four income groups, based on the gross national income (GNI) per capita. These groups are low income, lower-middle income, upper-middle income, and high income.

Updates: July 1 each year (World Bank)

Sources: World Bank, UN M49 Standard

The Freedom on the Net index measures Internet freedom in countries around the world, and comes from Freedom House. Countries are ranked Not Free, Partly Free, or Free, depending on obstacles to access, limits on content and violation of user rights.

Updates: October each year

Source: Freedom House

We measure and track Internet Shutdowns using a range of sources. As members of the #KeepItOn Coalition, we use a shared definition, established by our partners at AccessNow:

An Internet shutdown is an intentional disruption of Internet or electronic communications, rendering them inaccessible or effectively unusable, for a specific population or within a location, often to exert control over the flow of information.

If a country has experienced an Internet shutdown in the past 12 months, we include this in the country report. More information, along with historical data from 2019 onward are available in Pulse Internet Shutdowns.

We monitor using a range of data sources, and cross-reference with official news sources.

Updates: As needed

Sources: Cloudflare Radar, IODA, AccessNow

This uses the Pulse NetLoss calculator, which estimates the potential economic impact of a national shutdown on a country’s economy. This is an approximate value, and uses a range of public sources, including:

• Pulse Shutdowns Tracker
• Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED)
• The Constituency-Level Elections Archive (CLEA)
• The World Bank World Development Indicators

More about the framework and data sources in the full NetLoss methodology (PDF).

Updates: Yearly

Source: Internet Society Pulse NetLoss Calculator

The Pulse Internet Resilience Index draws on more than 20 data sources and ranks factors such as infrastructure, security, market readiness, and performance. Each country is assigned a score from 0 (least resilient) to 100 (most resilient), based on the Internet’s ability to maintain an acceptable level of service in the face of faults or challenges to normal operation.

• 0 to 30: Low resilience
• 31-40: Medium resilience
• 41-50 Medium-high resilience
• 51-100: High resilience

More on how we compile this in the IRI methodology document (PDF).

Updates: Yearly
Source: Internet Society Pulse Internet Resilience Index

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) measures Internet penetration in most countries around the world. The figure shown in the Pulse country report shows the percentage of the population that has used the Internet within a 3-month period, based on measurements from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Updates: Yearly, but not for every country

Source: ITU

Country reports show the percentage of each gender using the Internet, not a percentage of the total population. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) updates this yearly, but not for all countries. Compilation and sampling methods vary across countries, as does the age range.

Updates: Yearly, but not for all countries

Source: ITU

Percentage of individuals who use the Internet, based on location.

Updates: Yearly, but not for all countries

Source: ITU

This shows the average speeds across 300 users who have run speed tests.

Updates: Quarterly

Source: Ookla

The percentage of an average individual income that’s needed to pay for a low-consumption basket, using at least 3G technology. This includes a minimum of 70 voice minutes, 20 SMSs and 500MB of data.

Updates: Yearly

Source: ITU

This number shows the number of fixed broadband connections per 100 inhabitants, using OECD data.

Updates: Quarterly

Source: OECD Data Explorer

We use the GSMA’s Mobile Connectivity Index, which measures mobile adoption and performance in 173 countries and territories. It has been subjected to a statistical audit by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre.

Updates: Yearly

Source: GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index

These are the building blocks of the global Internet. Each network is assigned what’s called an Autonomous System Number (ASN). This identities it and allows it to connect and exchange traffic with other networks through a process called peering. We use RIPEstat data to identify the number of networks active in a country or territory.

Updates: Daily

Source: RIPEstat

This reflects upstream diversity, the number of connections this country or territory has to the global Internet. If it’s only possible to send traffic on one route across borders, it is a risk to the country’s Internet resilience. We assign a ranking from 1 (poor diversity) to 5 (excellent diversity), based on the percentage of networks that reach the largest transit network in the country.

Updates: Weekly

Source: IIJ Internet Health Report

This shows the number of Internet users who have access to resources that use the new generation of the Internet Protocol. This new way of defining addresses allows the Internet to continue growing without running out of addresses. We also measure the 1000 most frequently accessed websites in a country.

Updates: Monthly

Source: Akamai, APNIC, Meta, Google

We use Data Center Map’s data to show the number of data centers in operation in each country. This map is compiled using information submitted and maintained by operators, so it relies on the accuracy of the industry.

Updates: Daily

Source: Data Center Map

We use the Internet Society IXP Tracker to show the number of active IXPs in a country or territory. We take this data from PeeringDB. A region that has strong IXP development can often provide faster, more reliable, and more affordable connectivity. The Internet Society considers this one of the indicators for Internet infrastructure maturity.

Updates: Quarterly

Source: IXP Tracker, PeeringDB

This is a measurement that uses data from Google CRuX to identify content delivery networks (CNDs). From this, we measure the most frequently used 1000 websites in a country, region, or territory. We do this to determine how much of that content is available from an in-country server or cache. The benefit of caching is that it can shorten routes between the content and the end user, making it easier to provide faster, more reliable, more affordable Internet access, as well as reducing reliance on international connections.

Updates: Monthly

Sources: Google Chrome User Experience, FindCDN, IPinfo, MaxMind

We use APNIC’s Visible ASNs to show the top Internet Service Providers. This helps to demonstrate how centralized or concentrated a country’s Internet infrastructure is. When end users have more options for providers, it can also correlate with more affordable, stable, and reliable Internet.

Updates:

Source: APNIC Visible ASNs - Customer Populations

We use the United Nations measure of e-government ecosystem readiness. This shows how well a country is adapting to the digital economy. It rates countries relative to one another, so a country’s ranking can change across updates. It uses sources from a range of organizations, including other UN bodies the ITU and the OSI. We include it to offer data points that can help correlate digital readiness, and Internet investments and development.

Updates: Biennially

Source: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (PDF)

This shows the number of domains that use the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD). A high level of ccTLD adoption can indicate a high level of access to content that’s available on local in-country servers or caches. This can be correlated with more reliable and affordable connectivity.

It can be the case that in some countries with ccTLDs that are used in various industries, such as .ai and .io, the number of ccTLDs in use is greater than the population. This can indicate that the ccTLD is a source of income for the country.

Updates: Quarterly

Source: DNSSEC-Tools

We use something called the Herfindahl–Hirschman index, a calculation that’s commonly used to measure the health of the market around Internet services. It measures market concentration by squaring the market share of each company in the market, and then adding up the resulting numbers. A low score in this indicates a healthy level of market competition. Countries that rank highly on ISP choice usually receive a high rating on this indicator.

Source: IIJ Internet Health Report

We use the UN’s Global Cybersecurity Index, which measures the level of commitment a country has to cybersecurity at the global level. Data is gathered at the country level through a multistakeholder process. The assessment covers 5 pillars: legal, technical, and organizational measures, capacity development, and cooperation. These are aggregated to give a score out of 100.

Updates: Intermittently, every few years

Source: ITU Global Cybersecurity Index

DNSSEC is an extra layer of security that operates at the level of the domain name system (DNS). It has to be intentionally activated by a domain space manager. ICANN, the global body that manages the assignment of domain names and IP addresses, encourages the adoption of this layer of security. The Internet Society considers it a positive indicator for Internet development.

Updates: Source updates continuously, we update daily

Source: DNS

This measures the use of the resource public key infrastructure (RPKI) which is a framework that improves the security of the global routing infrastructure. A higher adoption of these practices indicates a stronger commitment to the security of the global Internet. It uses cryptographic techniques to associate IP address prefixes with the correct autonomous system.

Updates: Daily

Sources: Rovista (ROV), APNIC (ROA)

This shows the percentage of all domains under the ccTLD that are protected with DNSSEC.

Updates: Unknown, Pulse updates monthly

Source: DNSSEC tools

This is the percentage of all DNS queries, whether websites or other services, that are protected with DNSSEC. This is something internet service providers (ISPs) do on behalf of their subscribers. This indicator is different from the coverage score because it accounts for all web traffic, not just for content or services hosted in the country or territory.

Updates: Unknown, Pulse updates monthly

Source: APNIC Labs