Countries Most Vulnerable to an Internet Blackout

Libyans and Bosnians have the most to worry about if their internet ever goes down, a July 2026 report finds. A new study by data infrastructure provider TRG Datacenters reveals the top 10 countries most vulnerable in the event of a major digital breakdown.

• If Libya’s grid goes down, so does the internet for millions, as the country has almost no backup cables or connections to fall back on.
• Bosnia and Herzegovina has zero submarine cables and just one internet exchange point, the single hub handling all its internet traffic.
• Landlocked nations are most susceptible to internet outages, with Armenia, Belarus, and North Macedonia all lacking a single submarine cable of their own.

To find the countries most exposed to a digital breakdown, the research examined nearly 100 countries with over a million people and at least 70% internet penetration. Each country was scored on how fragile its infrastructure is, counting submarine cables and internet exchange points, and on how well it could cope with a shutdown, based on cybersecurity measures and electricity access. These scores were combined into a single vulnerability rating from 0 to 100, where a higher number means a country is more exposed to serious disruption if its digital systems went down.

Here’s a look at the top 10 countries most vulnerable to a digital infrastructure breakdown:

Country	Vulnerability Score (0-100)	Internet Users (%)	Submarine Cables (count)	Internet Exchange Points (count)	Cybersecurity Index GCI (0-100)	Electricity Access (%)
Libya	100	82	6	1	68.1	73.2
Bosnia and Herzegovina	97.2	86.1	0	1	33.6	100
West Bank and Gaza	92.6	86.6	0	2	37.6	100
Bolivia	90.1	79.7	0	2	43.2	99.8
Armenia	84.4	81.3	0	2	54	100
Belarus	83.2	94.3	0	1	61.5	100
Lebanon	81.9	80.6	4	3	32.4	100
Mongolia	81.3	85.1	0	3	56.4	100
North Macedonia	81	93.1	0	1	65.9	100
Moldova	78.7	77.4	0	2	65.3	100

You can access the complete research findings here.

1. Libya

• Vulnerability score: 100 out of 100
• Internet users: 82% of the population
• Submarine cables: 6
• Cybersecurity score: 68.1 out of 100
• Electricity access: 73.2% of the population

Libya is the most exposed country to internet outages. Over 8 in 10 Libyans are online, but the country’s power grid only reaches 73% of the population, the weakest electricity coverage in Europe. On top of the unreliable power supply, Libya also has just one internet exchange point, the local hub that keeps traffic without having to route through another country. This means a single power cut or damaged connection could knock out the internet for millions of people here.

2. Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina is also vulnerable to internet blockouts. The country has zero submarine cables of its own, meaning every bit of international internet traffic has to travel through neighboring states first. Electricity covers 100% of the population, so power isn’t the issue here. But the weak point is cybersecurity, as Bosnia has no digital protections in place in the event of a major attack, scoring just 33.6/100 in IT security.

3. West Bank and Gaza

West Bank and Gaza rank third in digital vulnerability. Like Bosnia and Herzegovina, it has no submarine cables at all despite having access to the sea. Plus, the entire territory relies on just two internet exchange points, leaving it exposed if any single connection fails. At the same time, over 86% of the population here is online, so a huge number of people would feel the effects if the network went down.

4. Bolivia

Bolivia takes fourth place in the rankings. The country has no submarine cables and only two internet exchange points to serve a population of more than 12 million people, a thin setup for a country this size. Nearly 80% of Bolivians are online, and electricity reaches almost the entire population at 99.8%. Even so, the lack of cable and exchange points leaves the country with few backup routes if its main connections were interrupted.

5. Armenia

Armenia rounds out the top five countries most vulnerable to internet shutdowns. As a landlocked state, Armenia has no submarine cables and depends on just two internet exchange points. This shortage of physical backup infrastructure creates major risks, as over 81% of Armenians actively use the internet, and any network blackout can affect the whole population, from households and government services to businesses.

A cybersecurity analyst from TRG Datacenters commented on the study:

“One important thing to clarify is that this isn’t about your phone losing signal or Netflix buffering. When a country’s digital backbone goes down, its hospitals are unable to pull up patient charts, banks are frozen mid-transaction, and border crossings can’t check passports. Entire supply chains run on the internet now, so one bad outage can stall deliveries, paychecks, and government services all at once.”