Nearly half China's population now online

  • 24/07/2015
China defines its online population as those who have used the internet at least once in the past six months (file, Reuters)
China defines its online population as those who have used the internet at least once in the past six months (file, Reuters)

China has 668 million internet users, accounting for 48.8 percent of the country's total population.

A total of 18.94 million new users - more than the entire population of Chile - were added in the first six months of this year, the China Internet Network Information Center reported on Wednesday (local time).

"Mobile business applications grew rapidly as internet applications developed in an experience-improving and economics-relevant way," it said in a statement.

China, which already had more web users than any other country in the world, defines its online population as those who have used the internet at least once in the past six months.

The number of mobile payment users increased by 26.9 percent from December to 276 million, while those using their mobile phone to shop online rose 14.5 percent to 270 million, the statement said.

In the first half of this year, China's online retail sales soared 39.1 percent from a year ago to exceed 1.6 trillion yuan, previous government data showed.

The country's roller-coaster stock market this year saw the number of people using the internet to trade shares spike, surging 47.4 percent from December to 56.28 million.

AFP