The report showed that between April 2001 and April 2002 Australia's estimated Internet population grew by 19.62 percent to over 10.6 million. Globally, the increase was only 16 percent. Furthermore, Australia's active Internet population grew by 29.96 percent to over 6.2 million, which compares to a global average of 18 percent.
The average Australian's time online increased by 7.69 percent, to eight hours and 19 minutes a month, and the number of pages viewed each session dropped by 12 percent. The average time spent on each page, however, increased by over 13 percent to a total of 59 seconds.
According to Nielsen/NetRatings, there is a growing diversity of Australian Internet users, with the fastest growing segments of the Internet population being 2-11 year olds, which grew by 67.27 percent and 55-64 year olds, which grew by 66.31 percent.
Nielsen/NetRatings' global Internet usage report was based on 21 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The company said its tracking system is not established in other countries.
Gwendolyn Mariano contributed to this article
