Internet Resilience Index

For people to experience the full benefits of access, the Internet itself needs to be able to adapt to challenges. The Pulse Internet Resilience Index (IRI) tracks a range of indicators and assigns a weighted score for each country, measured out of 100. It’s a holistic score that measures how well an Internet connection can withstand things like sudden changes in Internet traffic, suspicious activity, or unexpected outages.

About the Internet Resilience Index

Global Internet Resilience Score

The overall Internet Resilience Score for all 249 countries and territories combined, based on data from October 2023

45 / 100
global average

Infrastructure

Physical infrastructure for Internet connectivity exists, and is available.

41 / 100
global average

Market Readiness

The ability of the market to offer affordable prices to consumers by maintaining diversity and competition.

40 / 100
global average

Performance

Consumers have seamless and reliable Internet services.

44 / 100
global average

Security

Technologies and best practices support a network’s ability to resist disruptions.

56 / 100
global average

Internet Resilience Score

  • Africa
  • 33 / 100
  • Infrastructure 26
  • Market Readiness 30
  • Performance 29
  • Security 47
  • Eastern Africa
  • 34 / 100
  • Infrastructure 26
  • Market Readiness 29
  • Performance 31
  • Security 50

Zambia

32 / 100

The Internet in Zambia has similar resilience scores to other countries in Eastern Africa, and is about average for Africa. It ranks 7th in Eastern Africa for infrastructure, a category that evaluates the availability of infrastructure for Internet connectivity. It ranks 43rd in Africa for performance, a category that evaluates how well the network provides seamless and reliable Internet services to consumers.

View country report for Zambia

  • Infrastructure 28
  • Market Readiness 30
  • Performance 16
  • Security 54
Jul 2019Jan 2020Jul 2020Jan 2021Jul 2021Jan 2022Jul 2022Jan 2023Jul 2023020406080100
Index ScoreInfrastructureMarket ReadinessPerformanceSecurity

Infrastructure Permanent link 28

Physical infrastructure for Internet connectivity exists, and is available.

Fiber ecosystem 20

Fibre 10km reach 20

The ability of the population to have access to a fiber connection point within 10 kilometers. Source: ITU

Mobile connectivity 51

Network coverage 58

Country has mobile network coverage (includes 2G, 3G, and 4G). Source: Composite score provided by GSMA

Spectrum allocation 35

Mobile operators have access to spectrum that allows them to offer sufficient services to customers.

Enabling infrastructure 14

Internet Exchange Point (IXP) coverage 23

Shows how well large population centers (defined as more than 300,000 people) are served by IXPs. Sources: Packet Clearing House (PCH), Peering DB

Data center coverage 5

Score measured based on data centers per 10 million population. Source: Data Center Map

Market readiness Permanent link 30

The ability of the market to offer affordable prices to consumers by maintaining diversity and competition.

Market structure 46

Market competition 26

Calculates the level of competition in the market. This uses the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI). Source: APNIC

Affordability 64

Measures the affordability of Internet connectivity for consumers. Source: ITU, A4AI

Upstream provider diversity 54

Uses the GINI Coefficient to measure the level of inequality when it comes to dependency on upstream connections. Source: Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ)

Traffic localization 14

Peering efficiency 0

RScore that uses the ratio of networks that peer at Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), compared with the total number of networks in a country. Sources: Packet Clearing House (PCH), PeeringDB

Domain count 0

Domains registered using ccTLD. Source: DomainTools

E-Government Development Index Score 47

Score on the United Nations E-Government Development Index (EGDI), which measures readiness for providing digital public services. Source: United Nations

Performance Permanent link 16

How well the network provides seamless and reliable Internet services to consumers.

Fixed networks 4

Download speeds 9

Download speeds, measured by Ookla speed tests. Source: Ookla

Consistency 0

This measures the network jitter, which shows consistency of speed and performance across networks. Source: Ookla

Responsiveness 0

Measures how quickly content reaches a user. A connection that's responsive is low in latency or lag. Source: Ookla

Upload speeds 6

Upload speeds, measured by Ookla speed tests. Source: Ookla

Mobile networks 23

Download speeds 17

Download speeds, measured by Ookla speed tests. Source: Ookla

Upload speeds 33

Upload speeds, measured by Ookla speed tests. Source: Ookla

Consistency 31

This measures the network jitter, which shows consistency of speed and performance across networks. Source: Ookla

Responsiveness 11

Measures how quickly content reaches a user. A connection that's responsive is low in latency or lag. Source: Ookla

Security Permanent link 54

Technologies and best practices support a network’s ability to resist disruptions.

Enabling technologies 65

HTTPS adoption 92

Web pageloads that use HTTPS. Source: Mozilla

IPv6 adoption 0

Users can access online resources using IPv6, the new generation of the Internet Protocol. Sources: Akamai, Facebook, Google, APNIC

Domain name system (DNS) security 54

DNSSEC adoption 100

Shows whether the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) using the extra layer of security known as DNSSEC. Source: ICANN

DNSSEC validation 8

A score showing how well DNS queries are protected by DNSSEC, across all web traffic. Source: APNIC

Routing hygiene 42

Upstream connections 36

Shows how well a country's networks are connected with upstream providers. Source: CAIDA

MANRS score 49

An overall score that measures routing security in a country's networks. Source: MANRS Observatory

Security threat 63

DDoS protection 87

Level of protection across networks, preventing DDoS attacks against another country's networks. Source: Cybergreen

Global Cybersecurity Index Score 69

Estimates the ability of a country or economy to prevent and manage cyber incidents. Source: ITU

Secure Internet servers 30

Number of secure Internet servers per 1 million population. Source: World Bank

About the Internet Resilience Index

The Pulse Internet Resilience Index (IRI) draws from a range of data sources, to track some of the key building blocks that underpin the Internet. The IRI enables comparison between countries, regions, and sub-regions, with a balanced set of metrics that accounts for the Internet’s complex ecosystem and varied landscape.

Each country is assigned an Internet Resilience Score, calculated out of 100. It reflects four broad pillars, each representing a range of different components that contribute to the overall resilience of the Internet. Scores are weighted, so a drop or a rise in one indicator can mean an improvement in this country, or that others are over- or under-performing in that area.

Learn more about how we choose indicators and data sources, and about our weighting scheme and aggregation method in the methodology document [PDF].

Origins of the IRI

The Internet Resilience Index developed out of the Measuring Internet Resilience in Africa (MIRA) project. It uses best practices according to the EU-JRC and the OECD Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators and the same methodology as currently existing indices such as the GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index, the Facebook/EIU Inclusive Internet Index and the Web Foundation Web Index.

API Access

You can access the data underpinning the Internet Resilience Index via our API