OECD releases latest rankings; U.S. remains at #15

The United States remained stagnant - at 15th - in the latest Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) broadband penetration rankings.

The OECD measures broadband subscription as a percentage of the entire population. According to the OECD statistics, only 26.7 percent of Americans subscribe to a broadband Internet connection.

Denmark leads the way with a 37.2% subscription rate. France, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Germany are among the fourteen OECD countries that continue to outpace the United States with broadband penetration.

To avoid confusion, we point out that the widely cited Pew Internet survey measures broadband penetration in the United States as a percentage of the adult population, finding that 55 percent of adult Americans had a broadband connection in 2008.

Japan (48%), South Korea (43%) and Sweden (20%) are the leaders for usage of fiber connections, as measured by the percentage of broadband subscribers whose home Internet connection is fiber. Only four percent of broadband subscriptions in the United States were fiber-based.

The OECD's figures also show that the United States and Canada stand out as the only OECD nations in which cable technology competes head to head with DSL and fiber in the broadband market.

The United States is also ranked the 15th most expensive country to subscribe to broadband based on price per advertised megabits per second.

Broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants (OECD)

Home broadband 2008 (Pew Internet and American Life Project)

Historical penetration rates (OECD)

Average broadband monthly price per advertised Mbit/s, by country, USD (OECD)