Surfshark’s 5th annual Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL) ranks Kyrgyzstan 71st in the world, improving by twenty places from last year.
The Digital Quality of Life Index is a study that assesses the «digital well-being» of 121 countries on five main parameters: internet quality, affordability, e-security, e-infrastructure and e-government.
Kyrgyzstan performed best in internet affordability, claiming 6th place, while facing challenges in e-infrastructure, ranking 98th. The nation ranks 85th in e-government, 88th in internet quality, and 93rd in e-security.
In the overall Index, Kyrgyzstan surpasses Tajikistan (117th), but lags behind Kazakhstan (47th). In Asia, Kyrgyzstan takes 23rd place, with Singapore the leader in the region.
Kyrgyzstan’s internet quality is 16 percent lower than the global average.
Fixed internet averages 55 Mbps in Kyrgyzstan. To put that into perspective, the world’s fastest fixed internet — Singapore’s — is 300 Mbps. Meanwhile, the slowest fixed internet in the world — Yemen’s — is 11 Mbps.
Mobile internet averages 31 Mbps. The fastest mobile internet — the UAE’s — is 310 Mbps, while the world’s slowest mobile internet — Venezuela’s — is 10 Mbps.
Compared to Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan’s mobile internet is 69 percent faster, while fixed broadband is 17 percent faster. Since last year, mobile internet speed in Kyrgyzstan has improved by 25 percent, while fixed broadband speed has grown by 9 percent.
The internet is highly affordable in Kyrgyzstan compared to other countries.
Kyrgyzstanis have to work 30 minutes a month to afford fixed broadband internet. While this is less than average, it is 2 times more than in Romania, which has the world’s most affordable fixed internet (Romanians have to work 18 minutes a month to afford it).
Kyrgyzstanis have to work 35 minutes 40 seconds a month to afford mobile internet. This is 2 times more than in Luxembourg, which has the world’s most affordable mobile internet (Luxembourgers have to work 16 minutes a month to afford it).
France, Finland and Denmark topped this year’s digital quality of life ranking.
As the authors of the index say, globally, the internet is more affordable than last year.
