Since the development of IPv6 in the late 90s, countries around the globe have been transitioning to the most recent version of Internet Protocol. Let’s look at the top 10 countries by their current numbers, and how far they’ve gone in their adoption.

10. United States – 40.4%

The United States has been transitioning to IPv6 since August of 2013, with as little as 4% back then. By August of 2016, it was 23.5%. In the past 5 years, the U.S. has gained an additional 17% progress. At its highest point, the US was at about 52.6% (May of 2018), but there have been setbacks in its transition. The United States is the only country to not have seen any noticeable growth in nearly four years. 40.7% in Sep of 2017 – > 40.4% currently.

9. Luxembourg – 41.7%

Luxembourg at first enjoyed steady growth – starting off at 4.3% in August of 2013. By August of 2016, they were in-between 16% and 21%. Since then, they have enjoyed slow growth with dips–bouncing between 25-30% until 2020. The largest dip occurred over the course of two weeks, from 28% to 15%. They had a spike to 40% and have stayed there since then.

8. Switzerland – 44.4%

Switzerland is a bit higher, at 44.4% currently as of July 2021. They started at a higher rate than some other countries, at 6.7% by August of 2013. They were consistently above 20% by 2016. There were noticeable drops in some years, but by 2020, they stayed above 40% regularly.

7. Greece – 45.2%

Greece started off at a low 0.5% in August of 2013. They enjoyed regular growth and were above 20% consistently by mid-2016. By 2019, they were in the high 30s and were above 40% in 2020 and beyond.

6. Japan – 45.8%

Japan started at 1.8% in August of 2013. They experienced slower growth, being only at 10.7% in August of 2016. This growth sped up over time. By 2018, they were consistently above 25%. They started breaking 40% in 2021.

5. France – 46.3%

France began at 4.5% in August of 2013. By August of 2016, they were at 11.7% – a bit of slower growth. France stayed steady and went into 39% by late 2019 – and hit above 40% by April of 2020.

4. Malaysia – 49.1%

Malaysia started at 0% in August of 2013 – so no IPv6 transition whatsoever. By August of 2016, however, they were almost 10%. They experienced rapid growth in 2017 and 2018 – ending 2018 with 37.8%. Since 2020, they’ve been well above 40% adoption and rising.

3. Belgium – 52.3%

Belgium was at just 2.9% in August of 2013. They had a massive early spike and were in the mid 20% range in 2014. Growth stabilized around 2016 and ranged from 36-37% up to 51% over the course of the next few years. Currently, it stays at or above 45% regularly.

2. Germany – 53.7%

Germany, starting at 3.1% adoption in August of 2013, has had very steady growth with almost no drops or unexpected leaps. In fact, the country has had the smoothest growth with very little deviation out of all the top countries. By 2016 they were consistently above 20%, and by 2019, above 40%. They’re usually above 50% adoption these days, even with small dips in their stats.

1. India – 60%

Featuring the highest current adoption rate, India has had massive leaps and noticeable spikes in its growth, reaching 70.1% at its highest point. They didn’t even have 1% until March of 2016, but a huge spike within the next year put them at the mid-20s for percentages. Some smaller spikes and steady growth since then have them in 40%+ by 2018, and they’ve been above 50 percent for all of 2020 and beyond.

Conclusion

The global adoption of IPv6 has been going well since its launch day all over the world nearly a decade ago. Many major nations have made great strides in doubling or tripling their IPv6 adoption rate, such as the U.S going from 23.5% to 40.4% in the past few years.

The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, seems to have sped up the adoption rate in some ways. Countries such as India, Japan, Greece, and Switzerland picked up noticeable jumps during those times. Many of these top countries experienced bumps of up to 5-10% or even more during 2020 and the initial days of the lockdown and the pandemic.

Finally, while countries have experienced drops in IPv6 adoption in the past, and some countries had noticeable long-term dips, right now the trend for most top countries points towards continued upward growth.

It’s hard to say how long it will take for the adoption rate to become a majority (70%+) across many different countries, but with current trends and internet infrastructure improvements, we can hope for bigger jumps – and one day, a true IPv6 adoption that will result in a more efficient, secure system for all.