China becomes web's number two

More people now use the web in China than any country except the US, according to a new survey.

China knocks Japan off the number two spot in the internet hit parade, accounting for 6.63 per cent of world internet traffic against Japan's 5.24 per cent.

The US is likely to retain the number one spot for a good while yet, as it still accounts for 42 per cent of all internet traffic. But its lead is slipping as the rest of the world logs on to the internet revolution - back in January 45.6 per cent of internet traffic came from the US.

The UK accounted for 3.9 per cent of global internet traffic, sharing the number four spot with Canada, according to the survey conducted by internet research firm WebSideStory.

Separately, Christian Morales, Intel's vice-president of Asia-Pacific, said that the Chinese PC market will overtake Japan this year, earlier than previously expected.