Number of Internet users in China reached 772 million

Beijing. February 2. Silkroadnews - The number of Internet users has reached 772 million in China, the newspaper “People’s Daily” reports.
“The number of China’s online users has hit 772 million by Dec. 2017, accounting for 55.8% of the country’s population, 4.7% higher than global average, said a report issued by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC),” the publication reads.
According to the report, in 2017 the number of Internet users increased by 40.74 million.
By the end of last year, 753 million Chinese used mobile phones to surf the Internet, accounting for 97.5% of the total number of online users, compared with 95.1% in 2016. Due to the extensive use of smartphones, the popularity of traditional devices such as desktop computers, laptops, and tablets has gradually declined.
The expanding online population has encouraged the development of mobile payments, which currently account for 65.5% of offline consumption in the country. In rural areas this figure reached 47.1%.