China now has 751 million Internet users

Recently China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released the 40th China Statistical Report on Internet Development (hereinafter referred to as “Report”) in Beijing. The Report shows that by June 2017, the number of Internet users in China had reached 751 million, accounting for a fifth of global netizens. The Internet penetration rate was 54.3%, surpassing the global average rate by 4.6 percentage points.

1. The number of netizens in China reached 751 million. Digital technology boosts economic and social transformation​

By June 2017, the number of Internet users in China had reached 751 million. In the first half this year, there was a total of 19.92 million new netizens, and the growth rate was 2.7%. The Internet penetration rate was 54.3%, up by 1.1 percentage points than that in the end of 2016. Digital technology represented by Internet has accelerated its deep integration with economic and social fields, which has become an important driving force for promoting consumption upgrade, economic and social transformation and the construction of new competitive advantage in China.​

2. Mobile users accounted for 96.3% of netizens. Mobile Internet has strengthened its dominant position​

By June 2017, the number of mobile Internet users in China had reached 724 million, up by 28.3 million than that in the end of 2016. The proportion of mobile netizens rose up to 96.3% from 95.1% in the end of 2016, and this proportion has continued to rise. In the first half this year, the number of mobile app users was on the rise, with more abundant scene. Among them, take-out apps had most rapid growth, whose users increased to 274 million, up by 41.4% from the end of 2016. Users of mobile payment reached 502 million with prominent off-line features. As for off-line consumption, 463 million Internet users used mobile payment.

​3. The number of IP addresses was among the top and export bandwidth grew significantly​

By June 2017, the number of IPv4 addresses had reached 338 million and the number of IPv6 address had reached 21283 pieces/32 address, both of which ranked second in the world. The number of websites in China reached 5.06 million, whose growth rate was 4.8% in past six months. And international export bandwidth reached 7,974,779 Mbps, up by 20.1% than the end of 2016.

4. The Apps of business transaction maintained high-speed growth, promoting consumption, transformation and upgrade​

In the first half of 2017, Apps of business transactions continued to grow rapidly. The number of users of online shopping, online take-out and online booking grew by 10.2%, 41.6% and 11.5% respectively. On the other hand, the characteristic of online shopping, which is upgraded consumption, became more prominent. User preferences have gradually transferred to quality, intelligence and new category consumption. Meanwhile, on-line and offline integrated data, technology, situations and other fields have expanded in-depth. The large user data accumulated by all platform are further valued.​

5. Internet financial markets tend to be standardized, while offline payment expansion is still a hot spot​

In the first half of 2017, the size of Internet financial users reached 126 million, and its half-year growth rate was 27.5%. In the field of Internet financial management, online and offline are respectively integrating its advantages in aspects of flow, technology and financial products, and have developed from competition to cooperation and win-win stage. The rate of return of online financial management products continues to decline, and the industry is developing towards standardized development. Offline payment is still a hot spot in the market. Netizens are getting more used to mobile payment in the supermarkets, convenience stores and other offline stores and the proportion of mobile payment reached 61.6% when shopping offline. While developing domestic market, China’s internet payment enterprises also have expanded overseas markets that have huge potential.​

6. The scale of on-line education and car hailing car maintained growth, and shared bikes enriched travel modes​

By June 2017, the number of App users in all areas of public service has increased. Among them, the number of online education, taxi hailing and chauffeured or express car hailing users reached 144 million, 278 million, and 217 million respectively. On-line education market has developed rapidly and artificial intelligence technology has driven industry upgrade. Car hailing market has gone through the rapid expansion stage driven by capital and into the standardized development path. The number of shared bicycle users reached 106 million, enriching the way of public travel. Technology and capital promote the industry to develop prosperously.

This article originally appeared in Sina Technology and was translated by Pandaily.

Click here to read the original Chinese article.