China Has As Much Web Users As U.S. Total Population

The number of people in China who use internet has surged so much in the past year that currently China has the world's largest number of internet users. It totals the entire U.S. population.

The report comes from BBC, which sites China Internet Network Information Center writing that China has 298 million internet users becoming the world' largest.

This marks a 41.9% increase on the previous year and is still growing fast, said the government-linked China Internet Network Information Centre.
The study also showed huge increases in the number of people in China accessing the internet through mobile phones.
The report by Cinic also noted that internet use in the countryside was increasing faster than in the cities.
At the end of 2008, the number of net users in China, which has a population of 1.3 billion, was almost the same as the entire population of the United States.

Internet usage and accessibility in China are growing at a dramatic pace, and as a result there are big opportunities for information marketers to turn this rabid market to real dollars.

China has become the number one user of the internet in the whole world - with 253 million internet users. The number of users has increased by a whopping 56% in the year to June 2008, with 43 million of these users coming online in just the December to June period.

Now what is surprising however is that these figures reflect a relatively miniscule penetration rate of 19.1% - meaning that only this percentage of the country can access the world wide web. Imagine the numbers if China could reach the 71% penetration of Korea or the 68% of Japan. To put it into perspective, you need to understand that the population of China is currently around 1.325 BILLION people.

Realistically though, in a country as vast as China, it may be a very long time, if at all, before the whole population will have internet access, but certainly the major centers are well serviced.

Who is online?

Females account for just over 46% of users. The age group for internet users is young, in fact over 68% of Chinese internet users are under 30 years of age. Around 39% of these have education to high school only, a reflection of the educational makeup of the Chinese population. Twenty-five percent of internet users are business employees and 30% are students.

Online habits

The most common objectives of Chinese internet users are internet music, news, messaging and video, followed by search engines and email. Online games are accessed and played by 58.3% of users, while 25% purchase online. Contrary to a popular western perception, over 23% of Chinese 'netizens' use online banking and over 18% access the internet for learning purposes.

Especially significant for marketers of information products is the last figure - 18 percent equals around 47 million people in China that are on the path to self-improvement! And this segment is growing.

Another opportunity for products to the China market is online gaming items and accessories.

E-commerce

Online shopping is beginning to blossom in China, and statistics from China Internet Network Information Center show that as at June 2008 over 63 million people in China shop online. This figure reflected an increase of almost 17 million in the preceding 6 months alone. The major concentrations of online shoppers are, not surprisingly, the big cities of Shanghai and Beijing.

This growth in online shopping has been put down to more reliable, functional, and secure payment and fulfillment systems.

Opportunities abound.

No internet marketer can afford to be without the solid and detailed information that the research-based Chinese eWhispers provides. No fluff, no hype - just the facts.

Although there are almost as many people on the Web in China as there are U.S. residents, the country has a long way to go to match Web penetration rates measured in other countries: Web penetration in China is just 22.6 percent.
-HULIQ News