Asia leads the way in the growth of Internet users

According to a latest comScore Networks survey, the number of global Internet users has increased by about 10% in 2006. Leading this growth trend must include India, China and Russia.

The statistics of comScore Networks show that by the end of January 2007, the number of global Internet users aged 15 and over is about 747 million - an increase of 10% over the same period last year.

America is still the country with the largest number of Internet users in the world with 153 million users. However, the country's new user growth rate was only 2% last year.

China is ranked second with 86.7 million users with a growth rate of 20% last year.

According to official estimates by the Chinese government, the country now has 137 million Internet users. But this is a number that includes Internet users in Internet cafes or in public places.

If that number is calculated, China will join the US to become the two countries with the largest number of Internet users in the world. Next is Japan, Germany, England, South Korea, France, India and Italy.

The country with the highest growth rate of new Internet users in the world is India with 33%. However, this Asian country is still ranked 8th on the list of countries with the largest number of Internet users in the world with 21.1 million users. This position is only behind France.

Russia also achieved a 21% growth in new Internet users and now has 12.7 million users.

" The world population is still growing continuously and this means that the number of Internet users will continue to increase ," said Bob Ivins, CEO of comScore Europe.

"The number of non-US Internet users now accounts for 80% of the total number of global Internet users. Reaching the highest rate of new user growth must include Asian countries ."

Canadians are the most online people. On average, each national person spends about 39.6 hours per month on the web. Standing next is Israel, South Korea, the US and the UK.

Hoang Dung