(Xinhua via NewsEdge) The number of Chinese Internet users rose to 111 million at the end of 2005, an increase of 17 million from a year ago, according to statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).
This means 8.5% of Chinese people use the Internet for at least one hour each week. The ratio, however, remains behind the global level of 15.2%.
Data from the CNNIC also reveal that 64.3 million Chinese Internet users have broadband access to the Internet, up 50.2% from a year ago.
However, there exists a wide gap between Internet use in cities and rural areas, the statistics show.
There are 19.31 million Internet users in the rural areas, making up only 2.6% of the rural population. There are around 91.69 million Internet users in cities, making up 16.9% of the urban population, according to the CNNIC.
© 2006 Xinhua News Agency
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