Six countries have experienced a massive increase in the number of Internet users since last year, according to a study released today by comScore Networks. India, China, and Russia had the "highest audience growth rates year-over-year," while users in Canada, Israel, and (South) Korea spent more time on the Web, the study indicated.
Since January 2006, the number of people over the age of 15 using the Internet increased by nearly 70 million users during a one-year period, comScore announced. This growth, however, does not reflect sites accessed from Internet cafes or Web-enabled mobile devices.
India had the most significant growth, with 33 percent overall; Russia followed with 21 percent, and China saw a 20-percent increase since 2006. According to comScore, China's 86.8 million users bring its worldwide ranking to No. 2, following the U.S., which had one of the smallest increases but has more than 153 million Internet users.
"Internet users outside the U.S. now account for 80 percent of the world's online population, with rapidly developing countries experiencing double-digit growth rates [annually]," said Bob Ivins, managing director, comScore Europe.
In the number of per-visitor average hours online for January 2007, Canada ranked highest at nearly 40 hours a month (among average users; 41.3 hours/month among broadband use).Rounding out the top 5 were Israel, South Korea, the U.S. and the U.K.
Researchers at comScore attribute the expansion of broadband-connection customers to the growth in Internet usage, Ivins said.
Among the most-visited Web properties during the past year, the report indicates the power and longevity of search engines: Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo! sites rounded out the top three. Sites belonging to the Microsoft Network (ranked No. 1) had more than 500 million visitors total; Google fell short of tying with Microsoft by approximately 80 million users, while Yahoo! trailed Google by nearly 40 million users. Amazon.com, eBay, and Wikipedia also made the top 10 listing, as did Apple Inc.
