年中國網民數量達7.31億 相當於歐洲人口總量

China has 731 million Internet users as of December 2016, roughly the size of Europe's population, according to a report released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).

據中國互聯網絡信息中心發佈的一份報告顯示，截止2016年12月，中國網民數量已經達到了7.31億人，這一數字差不多相當於整個歐洲的全部人口。

The number of Web users grew by 42.99 million in 2016, or 6.2 percent from the previous year, accounting for 53.2 percent of China's total population, the report said.

報告指出，2016年中國網民數量增加了4299萬人，同比去年增長6.2個百分點，而網民總人數佔到了中國總人口的53.2%。

Li Yi, a Shanghai-based independent IT expert, told the Global Times the surge in the number of smartphones was the primary reason for the growth in Net users.

上海獨立IT專家李亦在接受《環球時報》採訪時表示，智能手機數量激增是網民數量增長的主要原因。

Some 695 million netizens used mobile phones to access the Internet in 2016, with a growth rate exceeding 10 percent for the third straight year, the report said. Smartphone-based Internet use accounted for 95.1 percent of all Internet users, up from 90.1 percent in 2015.

報告稱，2016年共有6.95億網民使用手機上網，增長率已經連續第三年超過10%。在所有網民中，用智能手機上網的人佔比達到了95.1%，而2015年時這一比例還只有90.1%。

The report noted that 201 million people or 27 percent of Internet users were from rural areas, or a gap of 45.2 percent in the Internet penetration rate between urban and rural areas.

報告還指出，其中2.01億（27%）網民來自農村地區，城市和農村地區互聯網普及率差距爲45.2%。

"Poverty has stunted further growth in Internet users, which has kept the Net user population to around 50 percent," Li said.

李亦表示：“貧困阻礙了網民數量的進一步增加，使得網民數量佔全部人口的比例只在50%左右。”

Meanwhile, domestic Internet users have formed a mobile payment habit, with the number of users making payments through smartphones skyrocketing to 469 million last year, up by 31.2 percent from the previous year.

與此同時，國內互聯網用戶已經養成了手機支付的習慣，去年用手機支付的用戶數量飆升到了4.69億，同比前一年增長了31.2%。