China is likely to overtake the United States to become the world’s largest Internet market by Web population size: its web population will hit 244 million by the end of 2008 from last year’s 182 million, an increase of 34 percent, said an Internet Society of China report issued recently.

The report’s findings are based on data collected from a survey of 50,786 mainland Internet users and 270 companies across the country, as well as from seminars and interviews with industry experts.

Hu Yanping, chief of the government-back ISC’s development & communication center, estimated that the total Web population will outnumber that of the US as early as June, as broadband penetration grew.

The US had about 210 million Web users by December, with a Internet penetration rate of more than 70 percent. China’s December figure was 13.8 percent.

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This entry was tagged as broadband, Internet, Internet In China, Internet Industry, Internet Society of China, Internet use, Internet Users, Report, United States, Web population