The average Internet connection speed in Libya is the slowest in the world at 0.5 Mpbs. Most of the other nations with speeds well below the global average are in Africa, another example of how it is a “have not” region, if access to broadband is a sign of economic prospects. The lack of access to news, email and basic search engines at remarkably low speeds, if these are available at all, marks an economy that does not have a significant hallmark of progress.

According to the new Akamai “State of the Internet” Q1 report:

In the first quarter of 2014, six qualifying countries/regions had average connection speeds of 1 Mbps or less, the same as last quarter. Bangladesh had an average connection speed of 1.0 Mbps, while Bolivia, Cameroon, Botswana, and Yemen had speeds of 0.9 Mbps.

As a contrast, the global average was 3.9 Mbps. And in country with the fastest speed — South Korea — that figure was 23.6 Mbps. Other Asian nations were at the top of the list, with Japan at 14.6 Mbps and Hong Kong at 13.3 Mbps. Northern Europe also has three countries in the top ten: Netherlands at 12.4 Mbps, Sweden at 11.6 Mbps and Finland at 10.7 Mbps.

In terms of number of Internet connections, the United States was in first place with 162,676,451, followed by China at 123,526,069. After those two nations, there is a large drop off, due primarily to population. Brazil was in third place at 41,298,694, Japan in fourth place at 40,042,679 and Germany at 37,176,422.

In terms of people connected to the internet, Libya was not even worth counting.

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