Abstract:The average distance (G) of a connected graph G of order n is the average of the distances between all pairs of vertices of G, i.e., y), where V(G) denotes the vertex set of G and d G (x, y) is the distance between x and y. We prove that if G is a -vertex-connected graph, ≥ 3 an odd integer, of order n, then (G) ≤ n/2( +1)+O(1). Our bound is shown to be best possible and our results, apart from answering a question of Plesník [J Graph Theory 8 (1984), 1--24], Favaron et al. [Networks 19 (1989), 493--504], can be used to deduce a theorem that is essentially equivalent to a theorem by Egawa and Inoue [Ars Combin 51 (1999), 89--95] on the radius of a -vertex-connected graph of given order, where is odd. ᭧