Iceland has emerged as the surprise winner of the title 'most wired nation on earth'.

According to figures released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Iceland has the highest broadband internet use per capita at 26.7%, closely followed by Korea with 25.4%, and the Netherlands in third place with 25.3%. The US showed up in 11th place with 16.8%, just ahead of the UK's 15.9%.

The figures reveal, however, that the US has the biggest number of broadband users in all OECD countries - 49 million, followed by Japan with 22.5m and Korea's 12.2m.

The Paris-headquartered OECD says overall broadband subscriptions in its member countries jumped from 136m to 158m in the six months to December 2005.

Eastern Europe remains behind its western counterparts. The countries covered by the OECD all had penetration rates less than 10%. Greece props up the list, with 1.4% broadband penetration.

Data sourced from BBC Online; additional content by WARC staff