More than 253 million people in Chine are now online, according to new figures from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).
Data from Nielsen Online shows that the US has 223 million people online in June, making China the world’s largest internet using country.
Internet penetration in China now stands at 19% compared with 71% in the US.
CNNIC said in a statement: “This is the first time the number has drastically surpassed the United States, becoming the world’s number one.”
The 2008 figure is up 56% in a year, said CNNIC, with analysts expecting the total to rise by about 18% year on year and reach 490 million by 2012.
Earlier this month, JupiterResearch forecast that China would not overtake the US to become the leading online population until 2011 (see A Quarter Of The World’s Population Will Be Online By 2012).
Meanwhile, in February eMarketer predicted that 42.8 million Britons will go online in 2012, accounting for about 70% of the population (see 70% Of UK Will Go Online In 2012).
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