China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) formally released yesterday its 47th "Statistical Report on the Development of Internet in China" ("Report”). As mentioned in the Report, in December 2020, China's netizens reached 989 million, an increase of 85.4 million compared with March 2020. The Internet penetration rate of China reached 70.4%.
The number of rural netizens was 309 million, an increase of 54.71 million compared with March 2020. The Internet penetration rate in rural areas was 55.9%, a 9.7% up compared with March 2020.
According to the Report, in December 2020, China's mobile netizens reached 986 million, which was 88.85 million more than March 2020. The proportion of netizens using mobile phones reached 99.7%, which was 0.4% higher than March 2020.
In December 2020, 99.7% of China's netizens used mobile phones. About 24.0% used TV to access the Internet, while netizens using desktop computers, laptops and tablets accounted for 32.8%, 28.2% and 22.9% respectively.
By December 2020, the average weekly online time of Chinese netizens was 26.2 hours, 4.6 hours less than in March 2020.