comScore which provdes measuring services for the digital world, has released a review of Internet behavior covering 10 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

The comScore World Metrix study reveals that in May there were nearly 284 million people aged 15 years above who accessed the Internet from either a home or work computer in the region.

This represents 10 per cent of the Asian-Pacific population who are 15 years of age and older. The average person in the Asia-Pacific region visiting the Internet is 13.8 days in the month and time spent is 20.2 hours with a total viewing of 2,171 pages. This compares to the global averages of 17.1 usage days per month, 25.2 hours per month, and 2,519 pages per month, indicating that the Asia-Pacific region’s PC-based Internet usage is somewhat lower than the rest of the world.

China clearly has the largest online population with 91.5 million people (age 15 or older accessing the Internet from either a home or a work computer in May 2007), but this translates to a penetration of only 9 per cent of the country’s population. Japan has 53.7 million users (49 per cent penetration) and South Korea 26.3 million (65 per cent penetration). Combined, these three countries account for 60 per cent of the region’s Internet population.

South Korea has the most active online population, using the Internet an average of 17.4 days per person in May, and dedicating 31.2 hours to viewing 4,546 pages during the month – twice as many pages as the regional average of 2,171 pages per user.

New Zealanders constitute the smallest online population in the region (1,949 million people) but are online 16.4 days per month, versus the regional average of 13.8 days.