US Comes in 11th Place Worldwide for Digital Quality of Life

Privacy protection company Surfshark recently conducted its first global Digital Quality of Life (DQL) study, which takes into account broadband speeds, prices, data laws, and more in 65 countries. The US came in at a not-too-impressive eleventh place, with a DQL score of 0.7341 (1 is the maximum), sandwiched between Sweden (10th) and the Netherlands (12th).

The US came in second in a couple of categories, thanks to its top-tier e-government services and solid cybersecurity, but America's mobile speeds lagged behind those of other leading nations. According to the survey, on average, the US hits 33.73 Mbps, half the speed of several top-10 DQL scorers. (For PCMag's annual speed tests on US mobile networks in specific cities and regions, see "Fastest Mobile Networks 2019.")

US prices also fall out of step with its economic peers: In America, to earn enough money to purchase the cheapest mobile internet connection, you have to work for 307 seconds. In Australia, it takes 21. You can do a bit to improve your connection (choosing a fast mobile network is a good start)—or you can wait for 5G to cover the country, bringing a slew of changes with it, especially for rural areas.

Mediocre mobile performance butts up against national priorities—for US citizens, connection speed is essential, with 70 percent of respondents citing it as a necessity. Data protection laws came second at 45 percent, and internet affordability came third at 42 percent. When Surfshark calculated America's DQL score based on our network interests, we dropped two slots to 13th overall.

Fortunately, solid broadband prices and speeds compensate for our mobile deficiencies: America ranked tenth in the former category and sixth in the latter (and you can measure your internet speed here). It takes approximately 68 minutes of work to purchase the cheapest possible broadband connection, and we average 114.70 Mbps. Some regions still lack solid connection, though, and many people rely on mobile networks over broadband.

Surfshark conducted online polls in May 2019 in 10 countries (the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and Japan) using Google Surveys. They received over 5,000 responses with no less than 500 respondents from each country.

The report concludes that every country—even the top rated—are mixed bags. Australia, the country with the highest DQL, has excellent mobile speed (sixth place) but terrible broadband performance (42nd place), and no country earned a score above .8. As for the US, the study concludes, if we don't get our act together, our Digital Quality of Life will drop.

Read more about the Surfshark study here.

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