Most Digitally Connected Countries in the EU

Key Takeaways

• Estonia, Finland, and Denmark are the most digitally connected countries in the EU. Their lead comes mainly from having many more mobile-broadband subscriptions per person than lower-ranked EU countries.
• Finland uses the second-most mobile data per subscription in the EU because plans with no data limit are popular there. Finnish households also often use a mobile plan as their home internet.
• Germany, France, and Italy all rank 15th or lower on the ICT Development Index despite being the EU’s three largest economies. All three fall far short of the index’s target of 150 mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 people.
• Only 10.2 points separate first-placed Estonia from last-placed Greece on the ICT Development Index. The gap is small because the index stops adding points once a country reaches each indicator’s target, and most EU countries are near those targets.

Most Digitally Connected EU Countries by ICT Development Index Score

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Estonia, Finland, and Denmark Are the Most Digitally Connected Countries in the EU

Estonia ranks first among the 27 EU countries on the ICT Development Index. Finland and Denmark follow closely.

The ICT Development Index measures how close each country is to giving everyone affordable, good-quality internet access. ICT stands for information and communication technology. The index combines 10 measures, called indicators.

Estonia, Finland, and Denmark do not top the ICT Development Index because of internet use or home internet access. Almost every EU country is close to the maximum score on both indicators.

Instead, Estonia, Finland, and Denmark pull ahead on mobile-broadband subscriptions. A mobile-broadband subscription is an active mobile internet plan, either on a phone or as a data-only plan for a laptop or modem.

Mobile-broadband subscriptions are counted per 100 people. A count above 100 means a country has more active mobile internet plans than people.

Mobile-broadband subscriptions make up one-sixth of the ICT Development Index score. They are also the indicator where EU countries differ the most.

The index’s target for mobile-broadband subscriptions is 150 per 100 people. Counts above the target earn no extra points.

Estonia records 195.3 mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 people. That is the second-highest count in the EU.

Poland records the most mobile-broadband subscriptions in the EU, at 219.3 per 100 people. Yet Poland ranks only seventh. Poland’s count above 150 earns no extra points, and Poland uses far less mobile data per subscription than the top three.

Finland records 157.4 mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 people. Many Finnish households use a mobile-broadband subscription with a 4G or 5G modem as their home internet.

The EU’s eight highest-ranked countries each record at least 132 mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 people. The seven lowest-ranked EU countries record between 88 and 103.

Overall, mobile-broadband subscriptions explain about two-thirds of the ICT Development Index score gap between the EU’s three highest-ranked countries and its seven lowest-ranked countries.

High Mobile Data Use Does Not Guarantee a Top EU Digital Connectivity Rank

Finland ranks second in the EU on mobile data use per mobile-broadband subscription. Each Finnish mobile internet plan used 531.7 GB of mobile data on average in 2024.

Two habits explain Finland’s high mobile data use:

• Mobile plans with no monthly data limit are popular.
• Many households use mobile broadband as their home internet. All their home streaming, video calls, and browsing then count as mobile data.

Mobile data use also has a target in the ICT Development Index. The target is 500 GB per mobile-broadband subscription. Use above 500 GB earns no extra points.

Latvia uses even more mobile data per subscription than Finland. Both countries pass the 500 GB target. Both get the maximum score of 100 on mobile data use.

Latvia ranks only ninth on the ICT Development Index mainly because it has fewer mobile-broadband subscriptions. Latvia records 121.8 mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 people, below the 150 target. Finland records 157.4.

Only 10.2 Points Separate the Most and Least Digitally Connected EU Countries

The ICT Development Index scores of all 27 EU countries fall within 10.2 points of each other. Worldwide, index scores range from 25 to 100 across 159 economies.

Two reasons explain why the gap in ICT Development Index scores among EU countries is so much smaller:

• Every ICT Development Index indicator has a target, like the 500 GB target for mobile data use. For data use, each extra gigabyte also adds fewer points than the last.
• All 27 EU countries are high-income economies. High-income economies are close to, at, or above many of the index’s targets.

As a result, EU countries’ ICT Development Index scores stay close together near 100.

Greece ranks last among the 27 EU countries, mainly because of mobile-broadband subscriptions. Greece records only 97.3 mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 people.

Germany, France, and Italy are the EU’s three largest economies by GDP. All three rank 15th or lower on the ICT Development Index.

Germany, France, and Italy all lose points because they fall far below the 150 target for mobile-broadband subscriptions:

• France: ranks 15th, with 112 mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 people
• Germany: ranks 21st, with 98 mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 people
• Italy: ranks 25th, with 100 mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 people

Which EU country has the fastest internet? ->

4G mobile networks reach at least 95% of people in every EU country. Across the EU, digital connection is now less about building networks. It is more about how many people take up mobile internet and how much they use it.