Cyber Security - Chinese Net Users Top 731 Million In 2016 : Report
China has 731 million Internet users as of December 2016 , roughly the size of Europe ' s population , according to a report released by the China Internet Network Information Center ( CNNIC ) on Sunday .
The number of Web users grew by 42.99 million in 2016 , or 6.2 percent from the previous year , accounting for 53.2 percent of China ' s total population , the report said .
Li Yi , a Shanghai-based independent IT expert , told the Global Times the surge in the number of smartphones was the primary reason for the growth in Net users . Some 695 million netizens used mobile phones to access the Internet in 2016 , with a growth rate exceeding 10 percent for the third straight year , the report said . Smartphone-based Internet use accounted for 95.1 percent of all Internet users , up from 90.1 percent in 2015 .
The report noted that 201 million people or 27 percent of Internet users were from rural areas , or a gap of 45.2 percent in the Internet penetration rate between urban and rural areas .