The 2023 Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL) conducted by cybersecurity company Surfshark, ranks Vietnam 56th in the world, improving by 14 places from last year.

Out of the Index’s 5 pillars, Vietnam performed best in internet affordability, claiming 16th place, while facing challenges in e-security, ranking 94th.

The fifth annual report has placed Vietnam 56th among 121 countries, up 14 places compared to the previous year. Snapshot

The fifth annual report has placed Vietnam at 30th in internet quality, 57th in e-infrastructure, and 63rd in e-government. In the overall Index, Vietnam lags behind Thailand (51st), but surpasses Cambodia (105th). In Asia, Vietnam takes 15th place, with Singapore the leader in the region.

The DQL Index 2023 examined 121 nations (92% of the global population) based on five core pillars that consist of 14 indicators. The study is based on the United Nations’ open-source information, the World Bank, and other sources. This year's study includes four more countries than DQL 2022.

The index shows Vietnam’s internet quality is 18% higher than the global average. Fixed internet averages 115 Mbps in Vietnam. 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. To sum up, fixed internet globally is 11% more affordable than last year—on average, people have to work 42 minutes less a month to afford it.

Meanwhile, mobile internet averages 55 Mbps. The fastest mobile internet — the UAE's — is 310 Mbps, while the world’s slowest mobile internet — Venezuela's — is 10 Mbps. Mobile internet worldwide is 26% more affordable than last year—people have to work 41 minutes less to afford it.

Since last year, mobile internet speed in Vietnam has improved by 21%, while fixed broadband speed has grown by 39%.

According to the report, Internet affordability is a big winner in Vietnam compared to other countries. Vietnamese have to work 2 hours 45 minutes a month to afford fixed broadband internet. While this is less than average, it is 9 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).

Vietnamese have to work 25 minutes 32 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).

In Asia, Vietnam takes 15th place, with Singapore the leader in the region. Snapshot

However, Vietnam is 94th in the world in e-security — 10 places lower than last year. The e-security pillar measures how well a country is prepared to counter cybercrime, as well as how advanced a country’s data protection laws are. Vietnam lags behind Thailand, which ranks 60th, but outperforms Cambodia (119th) in the e-security pillar.

Of the other pillars, Vietnam is 57th in e-infrastructure and 63rd in e-government.

Advanced e-infrastructure makes it easy for people to use the internet for various daily activities, such as working, studying, shopping, among others. This pillar evaluates how high internet penetration is in a given country, as well as its network readiness (readiness to take advantage of Information and Communication Technologies). Vietnam’s internet penetration is fairly high (86% — 56th in the world), and the country ranks 60th in network readiness.

The e-government pillar shows how advanced a government’s digital services are and the level of Artificial Intelligence (AI) readiness a country demonstrates. Vietnam’s e-government is similar to the global average.

In the all-around picture, France topped the Digital Quality of Life Index in 2023, joining nine European countries making the top 10, including Finland, Denmark and Germany. Singapore rounded out the best of the best at number 10.

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