---
title: "China has more internet users than any other country"
description: "There are nearly 591 million internet users in China."
date: "2013-12-02"
authors:
  - name: "Drew DeSilver"
    job_title: "Senior Writer/Editor"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/drew-desilver/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/02/china-has-more-internet-users-than-any-other-country/"
categories:
  - "International Technology"
  - "Platforms & Services"
---

# China has more internet users than any other country

China has more internet users than nearly all other countries have people. (The lone exception is India.) According to the [latest semiannual report](http://www1.cnnic.cn/IDR/ReportDownloads/201310/P020131029430558704972.pdf) from the official China Internet Network Information Center, 590.56 million people in China were using the internet at mid-2013, an increase of nearly 53 million (or 9.85%) from a year earlier. By comparison, the U.S. has the second-most internet users -- 254 million, according to the [Harvard Business Review](http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/12/why-china-loves-the-internet/?utm_source=Socialflow&utm_medium=Tweet&utm_campaign=Socialflow), but that's less than half as many as China.

[![PP_13.12.02_Chineseinternetusers](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2013/12/PP_13.12.02_Chineseinternetusers.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2013/12/PP_13.12.02_Chineseinternetusers.png)

Internet penetration in China continues to rise, but is still just 44.1%, according to the center's report; a year earlier it was 39.9%. By contrast, according to the Pew Research Center, almost everyone in the U.S. who wants to be online already is: [85% of Americans ages 18 and older](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/Static-Pages/Trend-Data-(Adults)/Whos-Online.aspx) (and [95% of teens](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/Static-Pages/Trend-Data-(Teens)/Whos-Online.aspx)) use the internet or email, and only [8% of those who don't](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/Reports/2013/Non-internet-users/Summary-of-Findings.aspx) say they're interested in starting.

The center, which manages the .cn top-level domain and allocates domestic IP addresses, also reported that 78.5% of China's internet users, or 464 million people, access it via their mobile phones (including 70% of new users). By contrast, 69.5% of Chinese users used desktops, down from 70.6% at the end of 2012.