July 2008: China has 253 million Internet users, tops U.S.

William Atkins
Friday, 25 July 2008 23:34

Business IT - Open Source

According to a Chinese report released on Friday, July 25, 2008, China has 253 million people online.


The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the non-profit, state-sponsored network information center of China, reported that its 253 million Internet users relates to an increase of 56% from one year earlier.

With only 19.1% of the Chinese population connected to the Internet, the country has huge World Wide Web (Web) gains still to accomplish over the next few years.

According to figures provided by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), China’s population is estimated, as of July 2007, to be 1.322 billion people.

The United States is reporting about 223.1 million Web users in June 2008, according to research company Nielsen Online.

According to CIA figures, the population of the United States, as of July 2007, is estimated to be 301.1 million (or, 0.301 billion) people.

In addition, according to PEW Internet and American Life Project, about 71% of the U.S. population is hooked up to the Internet. This percentage is a much more mature and more slowly rising percentage of American Web surfers. [statistics provided by the Associated Press: “China says has more people surfing the Web than US”]

Additional information on Internet use in China compared with the United States is found in the iTWire article “China says it’s Number One in Internet Population. Is it?”