China claiming to have 221 million internet users

China is claiming to be the worlds largest online market, with a total internet users 221 million as of the end of the February, reported by the state-run china Daily newspaer thursday.

China proclaim that it has overtake US in the number of internet users, as US has 216 million interne users. However, China seems to be far lagging behind from US in the percentage of the respective populations that use internet.

According to a report by China Internet Network Information Centre (CINIC), China had 221 million internet users at the end of February 2008, the largest in the world. The Nielsen/NetRatings data put the number of internet users in US at 216 million, or 69.7 per cent of the country’s total population. In contrast, China is believed to have only 16 per cent of its people on internet. The world average for all countries on internet is 19.1 per cent.

Interestingly, CINIC defines an internet user as anyone who accesses internet at least once a month. On the other hand, the Nielsen/NetRatings data for the number of internet users in US include only those people who access internet either from home or work leaving out many people who are online from other places than just home and work.

[Source: ComputerWorld, iTwire]