More Than Half of Worldwide Internet Users in U.S

The United States has an overwhelming lead in Internet users, butnot so in Internet users per capita, said the Computer IndustryAlmanac Wednesday.

Over 50 percent of the total 150 million Internet users worldwidewere in the United States at the year-end 1998. But the country wasonly ranked fifth in Internet users per capita.

The Nordic countries Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden werethe leaders with 29 percent to 32 percent of the population beingregular Internet users. They were followed by the United States, 28percent; Australia, 23 percent; Canada, 21 percent; and New Zealand,19 percent. Hong Kong was ranked 14th, with 9.9 percent.The Computer Industry Almanac projects that the U.S. will haveover 133 million Internet users or nearly 42 percent of the total318million worldwide Internet users in year 2000. The country will growto 485 Internet users per 1,000 people in 2000 and will be in a racefor the top ranking in per capita usage. These numbers include adultInternet users with weekly usage in businesses and homes.Worldwide, there will be about 320 million Internet users or 52.5per 1,000 people at year-end 2000, and about 720 million users or110per 1,000 people by year-end 2005. The U.S. will grow to over 207million Internet users in 2005 or 29 percent of the world's total.