China hits an Internet milestone with more than half of its population now online

China now has 688 million Internet users, a record figure. The new data for 2015 from the state’s China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) shows that’s not the only major milestone.

For the first time ever, China has more than half of its population online — 50.3% of them.

Mobile web access accounted for a record high proportion of total netizens. The country’s 620 million mobile Internet users in 2015 mean that 90.1% of all web users access it from their phones (when they’re not logging on from other devices like laptops and desktops).

The chart shows that China’s Internet users have nearly doubled in number since 2009. The number of people accessing the web from their phones has grown faster with the nation’s smartphone boom, more than doubling since 2010. Read more...