France's ranking in the Digital Quality of Life Index

In the 2026 edition of the Digital Quality of Life Index by Surfshark, France gains three positions in artificial intelligence but loses two in digital security. It moves from 5th to 8th place among 121 countries in the overall ranking.

Criteria for the index

This annual ranking evaluates each country on five criteria, based on public data such as those from the United Nations and the World Bank. The five criteria are the financial accessibility of the internet, its quality, infrastructure, digital security, and artificial intelligence.

France's performance in key areas

France ranks 3rd in artificial intelligence, but 23rd in infrastructure, showing a clear gap between its strengths and weaknesses. The artificial intelligence category was added in 2025 and assesses whether a country attracts AI investments and integrates them into public services.

Internet accessibility and network preparation

In terms of networks, 90% of the French have access to the internet, placing the country 56th on this indicator. The preparation of the networks places France 19th, highlighting a significant difference compared to countries like the United States and the United Kingdom.

European trends in digital fields

Europe follows an inverse trend. The continent occupies the top ten positions in digital security, but only four European countries are in the top ten of artificial intelligence: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Impact of artificial intelligence on cybercrime

For Tomas Stamulis, head of security at Surfshark, artificial intelligence has eliminated the "human bottleneck" for cybercriminals. Previously, a hacker could spend weeks researching a target, adapting their message, or setting up a fake website. This social engineering work is now automated.

France's financial accessibility of the internet

France is 16th in terms of financial accessibility of the internet. It now takes 1 hour and 7 minutes to afford a fixed internet subscription (28th rank) and 34 minutes for a mobile data plan, compared to 18 minutes last year.

Quality of internet connections

The quality of the connection, on the other hand, gains a position, placing France 13th. This shows that while financial accessibility has worsened, the actual quality of internet services has improved slightly.