Active Home Internet Users by Country, March 2009

The population of active Internet users in the 10 countries tracked by Nielsen Online went up almost across the board.

Australia was the one country where the number of Internet users decreased, at a rate of 4.91 percent. In February and into March parts of Victoria, a region in Australia, were stricken by major fires. The fires might be the cause of the lower number of active Internet users.

The U.K. experienced a 6.11 percent increase in active Internet users, a turnaround from the 3.14 percent drop in January.

Nielsen Online uses a sampling methodology applied worldwide, which allows for data aggregation on a regional and global basis. Active Internet users are derived from the number of users who have logged on in the previous 30 days.

Worldwide Active Internet Home Users, March 2009
Country	February 2009	March 2009	Growth (%)	Difference
Australia	12,090,358	11,496,358	-4.91	-593,699
Brazil	24,806,130	25,457,070	2.62	650,941
France	29,048,856	29,942,172	3.08	893,316
Germany	36,064,430	37,091,022	2.85	1,026,592
Italy	16,740,304	17,686,382	5.65	946,078
Japan	47,697,327	48,923,223	2.57	1,225,896
Spain	18,832,433	19,295,233	2.46	462,800
Switzerland	3,667,056	3,692,639	0.70	25,583
U.K.	27,849,946	29,550,591	6.11	1,700,646
U.S.	153,839,882	155,034,306	0.78	1,194,424
Source: Nielsen Online, 2009