Ready for 244 million Internauts?

Ready for the great big leap over the 200M marker?

If the China News Agency (中国新闻网) have done their maths right, China would see a growth of 34.1% -- and by the end of the Olympic Year, 2008, we'd see 244 million online. In a nation of 1.3 billion -- maybe even 1.4 billion some years later...

Growth has been increasing, especially for the period between 2006 to 2007. A 23.6% increase some years ago went up to 33.8% last year, and this year, it's expected to go up to 34.1%.

2007 stats showed the Chinese Internet at a staggering 182 million. Times are also good for folks in the ad biz: portal ad growth is expected to continue growing, with total incomes from portals estimated to clock in at 16.19 billion Chinese yuan. (The 2007 figure was at CNY 12.35 billion.)

The report come from DCCI, part of the Chinese Internet Association.

As one of our tweets went:

Welcome to the People's Republic of China. The nation with astronomical figures

Photo from theshanghaieye. Cross-posted on TechBlog86.com