The BBC is reporting that China has now officially become the biggest user of the Internet in the world. The country now has over 253 million individuals online, according to statistics by the China Internet Network Information Center.
By contrast, the United States (previously the largest user of the net) has approximately 223 million Internet users, as reported by the polling organization, Nielsen Online. This amounts to roughly 71% of the US population being online, compared to only 19% of China’s population.
But because China is such a populous country, the statistics show that the nation will eventually vastly outnumber the number of Internet users in both the European Union and the United States combined. Up until this year, the United States has been the largest single user of the Internet every year since polling data first began to be available in the 1990s.
China’s Internet usage is actually up by about 56% this year, compared to the same month in 2007. Overall the number of users going online in China is expected to grow at a robust 18% per year over the next four years, when China is expected to have 490 million individuals online.
And compared to North America, more Chinese Internet users will have access to a high-speed broadband connection. According to the recent polling data, by 2012 it is estimated that 95% of China’s Internet users will be connected via a high-speed broadband connection.
Other technology numbers in China are growing as well. China’s current mobile phone use statistics indicate that about 500 million Chinese citizens maintain their own cell phone, a number higher than both Europe and the United States.
But even though more Chinese citizens are online, the online economy in China still lags far behind most Western nations, and even South Korea. For example, online advertising in the United States currently brings in more than $21 billion per year. China’s net business Association reports annual online advertising revenue of less than 6 billion, despite having more Internet users.
The boom in Chinese industry is fueling increased Internet access for its citizens. With the country experiencing a belated industrial revolution, more and more average citizens have access to cell phones, computers and the Internet.
China is effectively becoming the production center of the world, selling billions of dollars worth of goods throughout Asia, Europe and North America each month. This influx of dollars, yen and euros into the country is making China’s Internet revolution possible, and shows no signs of slowing down in the immediate future.
SOme day there will be so many users the internet will have to way expand its space. I am sure this is a reality and will be taken care of with new operating systems etc. People would rather have a computer than almost anything…We become so dependent on e mail, research etc…carol stanley author “For Kids 59.99 and Over:
Comment by carol stanley — August 2, 2008 @ 11:32 am