Think Malaysia’s traffic is bad? TomTom’s Traffic Index 2024, which covers 500 cities in 62 countries, reveals locations that have the slowest traffic, utilising data from over 600 million connected devices such as car navigation systems.

Claiming the top spot is the Colombian city of Barranquilla, which had the highest average travel time of 36 minutes to cover 10km. Next come three Indian cities – Kolkata, Bangalore and Pune – where it took over 33 minutes to cover the same distance.

The top-ranking European city is London in 5th place, with an average time of 33 minutes and 17 seconds. In Asia, Kyoto, Japan and Davao City, Philippines also figure in the top 10.

The leading French city in the list is Bordeaux (24th place), where it takes 31 minutes and 8 seconds to cover 10km, while in Paris (45th place), it takes 28 minutes and 53 seconds.

Other indicators measure the level of congestion in a location, for which Mexico City takes the crown. On all routes surveyed throughout the year on the city’s entire road network, journey times are 52% longer than they would be when traffic is free-flowing. Bangkok follows with a congestion rate of 50%.

In Europe, Bucharest has a congestion rate of 48%, placing it in fifth place, while Dublin, Ireland is in 10th position.

Finally, in terms of lost time, Lima, Peru, and Dublin are where motorists spend no less than 155 hours in traffic jams on a typical 10km journey every working day during morning and evening rush hours.

By comparison, drivers in Paris lose an average of 101 hours a year in rush-hour traffic; New York 98 hours; Tokyo 82 hours; Rio de Janeiro 78 hours; Sydney 75 hours; and Hong Kong 71 hours.