Top > Webmaster > 2006 > July > 2006-07-31

123 Million Internet Users in China

According to the official numbers, US is the world leader in the amount of its web users, with around 204 million people. China, as it seems, is taking over the second place from the top with 123 million users, which is 20 percent more than last year.The increase in the number of users has also brought growth in the number of Chinese web sites. According to the annual survey by the official China Internet Network Information Center, the number of Web sites in China rose by more than 110,000 to a total of 788,400 during the past year.

Internet use for business and education is widely supported by the Chinese government lately. The authorities have invested heavily in broadband service, though the communist government tries to bar access to material considered subversive or pornographic.

The Internet agency also said that the number of Internet users in China with broadband service jumped by 45 percent over the past year to 77 million, or about two-thirds of the total online population. The average Chinese Internet user now spends 16.5 hours per week online, a new record high, the agency said.