A third of Chinese Internet users are under 19 in 2009 - report
Shanghai. June 21. INTERFAX-CHINA - There were 126 million Internet users under the age of 19 in China as of the end of 2009, according to official figures released on June 18.
Internet users aged under 19 accounted for 32.8 percent of China's 384 million Internet users in 2009, according to a report on Internet usage among Chinese youth jointly issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), China Young Pioneers and China Social Science Academic Press.
There were 4.2 million Internet users under the age of ten, according to the same report, which showed that approximately 85.3 percent of Chinese youth use instant messaging (IM) on the Internet.
Despite these figures, according to the report, there are few Web sites catering specifically to young users.
Xu Wei, chief executive officer of Suzhou Hipikids Technology Co. Ltd., previously told Interfax that though China has a vast base of young Internet users, there are very few information and Web services tailored to this demographic.
-YXY