Active Home Web Use by Country, December 2005

The Internet audience increased at a rate of less than one percent in December, with growth in eight of the 11 countries tracked by Nielsen//NetRatings. The rate of growth appears to be slowing.

After experiencing a significant growth of 6.82 percent in November, Brazil Internet users dropped off -2.57 percent in December. The South American country has an active home user Internet population of 12.5 million users. Spain was the highest-gaining active Internet user population with a 3.46 percent increase.

France (1.06 percent growth) outpaced the U.K. (0.9 percent growth) in new Internet users, though the U.K. Internet user population remains larger. Broadband adoption in France is currently greater than it is in the U.K.

Japan experienced a turnaround in new users. November data detail a -1.29 percent drop in active users. Japan increased its number of users by 2.59 percent to total 40.1 million subscribers.

Nielsen//NetRatings uses a gold standard sampling methodology applied worldwide. The sampling allows for aggregation of data on a regional and global basis.

Active Home Internet Users by Country, December 2005
Country	November 2005	December 2005	Change (%)	One-Month Change
Australia	9,887,757	9,904,266	0.17	16,509
Brazil	12,529,892	12,208,375	-2.57	-321,517
France	16,855,607	17,034,848	1.06	179,240
Germany	31,840,403	32,071,064	0.72	230,661
Italy	16,923,740	16,967,127	0.26	43,387
Japan	39,122,810	40,134,842	2.59	1,012,032
Spain	11,055,277	11,437,670	3.46	382,393
Sweden	4,810,817	4,739,069	-1.49	-71,748
Switzerland	3,602,570	3,577,870	-0.69	-24,701
United Kingdom	23,586,055	23,812,843	0.96	226,788
United States	142,704,415	143,784,919	0.76	1,080,503
Total	312,919,343	315,672,890	0.88	2,753,547
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, 2006