Malta ranks 32nd in the world for digital quality of life

Malta has ranked 32nd in the world in digital quality of life, improving by four places from last year.

Surfshark's Digital Quality of Life Index is an annual study that ranks 121 countries by their digital wellbeing based on five core pillars: e-infrastructure, internet quality, internet affordability, e-government and e-security.

Malta performed best in e-infrastructure, claiming 19th place, while facing challenges in internet affordability, ranking 49th.

It ranks 25th in e-government, 30th in e-security, and 34th in internet quality.

In the overall Index, Malta lags behind Cyprus (31st), but surpasses Greece (39th). Overall, European countries lead the world in their digital quality of life, with Malta taking 23rd place in the region.

“In many nations, 'digital quality of life' has merged into the broader concept of overall 'quality of life'. There’s no other way to look at it now that so many daily activities, including work, education, and leisure, are done online. That’s why it’s crucial to pinpoint the areas in which a nation's digital quality of life thrives and where attention is needed, which is the precise purpose of the DQL Index”, Gabriele Racaityte-Krasauske, Surfshark's spokeswoman, said.

Surfshark is a cybersecurity company focused on developing humanized privacy and security solutions. Its Surfshark One suite is recognized as the Independent’s Editor’s Choice for Best Value VPN 2023.

Malta’s internet quality is 17% higher than the global average

Fixed internet averages 182 Mbps in Malta

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 96 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 Cyprus, Malta’s mobile internet is 46% slower, while fixed broadband is 120% faster. Since last year, mobile internet speed in Malta has improved by 44%, while fixed broadband speed has grown by 15%.

Affordable internet

Maltese have to work 1 hour 40 minutes a month to afford fixed broadband internet. While this is less than average, it is six 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).

Maltese also have to work 1 hour 13 minutes 45 seconds a month to afford mobile internet. This is five 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).

30th in the world in e-security

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.

In this pillar, Malta lags behind Cyprus (26th) and Greece (6th). Malta is prepared to fight against cybercrime, and since it is a member of the EU and subject to the GDPR, the country has excellent data protection laws.

e-infrastructure and e-government

Advanced e-infrastructure makes it easy for people to use the internet for various daily activities, such as working, studying, shopping, etc.

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).

Malta’s internet penetration is high (100% — 1st in the world), and the country ranks 29th 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. Malta’s e-government is above the global average.

Global affordibility

Fixed internet is 11% more affordable than last year. On average, people have to work 42 minutes less a month to afford it.

The Index also shows that mobile internet is 26% more affordable than last year: on average, people have to work 41 minutes less to afford it.