The
United States claims more than one-third of all online households. But Germany
and the UK are catching up, says a new Nielsen survey.
The
Internet's global population is nearing 300 million people in 20 different
countries, according to what Nielsen//NetRatings says is the first-ever
examination of global Internet penetration.
The
report also shows that North America has by far the most people with Internet
access from a home PC: about 150 million. But the Nielsen report also said
European countries, with a combined 82 million people online, is catching up.
The
United Kingdom, Germany and Italy are leading the charge among Europeans, who
contribute more than half of the European Internet population, according to the
Nielsen report.
Of
the 20 countries surveyed, the United States has the most wired households,
with 136.9 million people over the age of two with Internet access at home.
Japan,
with 26.3 million, is a distant second. The United Kingdom is third, Germany is
fourth and Canada fifth. At the bottom of the list is Ireland, where 800,000
homes are wired and New Zealand, with 1.3 million.