The Asia Pacific region accounts for one-third of the worldwide Internet population, according to a new study by digital media measurer comScore.
The Asia Pacific region comprises East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australasia near the Pacific Ocean, and the states in the ocean itself. This was the first review of the region’s Internet usage.
The study also revealed that in May 2007 there were almost 284 million people age 15 or older who used the Internet from a home or work computer in the region.
Yahoo is the most popular site in the region, the study found.
The average person in the region used the Internet on 13.8 days in a month and spent 20.2 hours looking at 2,171 pages.
When comparing these statistics to the global averages of 17.1 usage days per month, 25.2 hours per month and 2,519 pages per month, the Asia-Pacific region’s PC-based Internet usage is lower than the rest of the world’s.
South Korea has the greatest rate of Internet usage, as 65 percent of its population used the Internet in May (home and work locations, age 15 or older), followed by Australia (62 percent), New Zealand (60 percent) and Hong Kong (59 percent). India has the lowest population with just 3 percent.
China has the largest online population with 91.5 million people (age 15 or older accessing the Internet from either a home or a work computer in May 2007), but this is only a 9 percent penetration of the country’s population.
Japan has 53.7 million users (49 percent penetration) and South Korea 26.3 million (65 percent penetration). When combined, these three countries make up 60 percent of the region’s Internet population.
South Korea’s population is the most active online population, using the Internet an average of 17.4 days per person in May and devoting 31.2 hours to viewing 4,546 pages during the month.
New Zealanders constitute the smallest online population in the region (1,949 million people) but are online 16.4 days per month, versus the regional average of 13.8 days.
