Basic Internet resources have laid the essential foundation for the prosperous digital economy, serving as a key powerhouse for high-quality socio-economic development. In 2024, China’s basic Internet resources developed, 5G and gigabit fibre broadband advanced orderly, the access traffic of mobile Internet grew at a faster pace, and the high-quality development of information and communication yielded remarkable results.
As of December 2024, the number of IPv4 addresses in China was 392.39 million, that of IPv6 addresses was 69,148 blocks/32, and that of active IPv6 users reached 822 million2. The total number of domain names was 33.02 million3, of which 20.82 million ended with .CN. The number of Internet broadband access ports reached 1,199 million4.
| Type | Unit | Number by December 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| IPv4 | 1 | 392,386,560 |
| IPv6 | Block/32 | 69,148 |
| Active IPv6 user5 | 100 million | 8.22 |
| Domain name | 1 | 33,019,905 |
| Including .CN domain name | 1 | 20,823,037 |
| Internet broadband access port6 | 100 million | 11.99 |
2 The number of active IPv6 users was updated by November 2024.
3 Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) and New Generic Top-Level Domains (New gTLD) data are provided by China’s domain name registration organisations.CN and .中国 data refer to global registration volume.
4 The number of Internet broadband access ports was updated by November 2024.
5 The number of active IPv6 users was updated by November 2024.
6 The number of Internet broadband access ports was updated by November 2024.
Up to December 2024, the number of IPv6 addresses had amounted to 69,148 blocks/32, up by 1.6% over December 2023. By collecting and analyzing data from 23 major public recursive services worldwide, 14 or 60.9% of them offered IPv6 public recursive services.
Unit: blocks/32.
Source: Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development, CNNIC, December 2024.
As of December 2024, the number of active IPv6 users reached 822 million.
Unit: 100 million users.
Source: National IPv6 Development and Monitoring Platform, November 2024.
Up to December 2024, the number of IPv4 addresses in China had amounted to 392.39 million.
7 The data cover Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Unit: 10,000 addresses.
Source: Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development, CNNIC, December 2024.
8 The data cover Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Up to December 2024, the number of China’s domain names totalled 33.02 million. Specifically, there were 20.82 million ended with .CN, 7.05 million ended with .COM, 170,000 ended with .中国, and 3.64 million New gTLD names.
| Type | Number |
|---|---|
| .CN | 20,823,037 |
| .COM | 7,047,974 |
| .NET | 590,181 |
| .中国 | 165,265 |
| .INFO | 48,497 |
| .ORG | 23,118 |
| New gTLD | 3,640,877 |
| Others9 | 680,956 |
| Total | 33,019,905 |
9 Including .BIZ, .CO, .TV, .CC, .ME, .HK, .PW, etc.
| Type | Number |
|---|---|
| .CN10 | 12,417,282 |
| .COM.CN | 3,878,437 |
| .ADM.CN11 | 2,406,924 |
| .NET.CN | 1,089,050 |
| .ORG.CN | 959,219 |
| .AC.CN | 52,427 |
| .GOV.CN | 12,608 |
| .EDU.CN | 6,857 |
| Others | 233 |
| Total | 20,823,037 |
10 .CN here refers to the second-level domain names under the category of .CN.
11 .ADM.CN refers to virtual secondary domain names and collectively denotes all administrative domain names (second-level domain names) under .CN.
As of November 2024, the number of 5G base stations totalled 4.191 million, accounting for 33.2% of all mobile base stations, up by 4.1 percentage points from December 2023.
Unit: 10,000 base stations.
Source: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, November 2024.
As of November 2024, the number of Internet broadband access ports nationwide reached 1,199 million, a net increase of 63.60 million from December 2023. Specifically, the number of FTTH/O ports reached 1.16 billion, a net increase of 63.49 million over December 2023 and the proportion amounted to 96.5% of Internet broadband access ports. The number of 10G PON ports with gigabit network service capability reached 27.92 million, a net increase of 4.896 million over December 2023.
Unit: 100 million ports.
Source: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, November 2024.
As of September 2024, the total length of fiber optic cable lines totaled 71.83 million km, a net increase of 7.514 million km from December 2023.
Unit: 10,000 km.
Source: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, September 2024.
As of December 2024, there were 4.46 million websites in China.
Unit: 10,000 websites.
Source: The ICP / IP address / domain name record management system of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, December 2024.
As of December 2024, there were 399.4 billion web pages in China, up by 4.5% from December 2023. There were 275.3 billion static web pages12 and 124.0 billion dynamic web pages13, accounting for 68.9% and 31.1% of the total, respectively.
Unit: 100 million pages.
Source: Baidu, December 2024.
| Type | Unit | December 2024 | Percentage Increase from December 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total web pages | Page | 399,364,628,784 | 4.5 |
| Static web pages | Page | 275,321,724,899 | 5.2 |
| Proportion in total web pages | % | 68.9 | -- |
| Dynamic web pages | Page | 124,042,903,885 | 3.2 |
| Proportion in total web pages | % | 31.1 | -- |
| Web page size (total number of bytes) | KB | 34,822,667,008,589 | 7.7 |
| Average number of bytes per page | KB | 87 | 3.0 |
Source: Baidu.
12 A static web page means a web page in the standard HTML format, whose extension is either .htm or .html, and which contains text, images, audio, flash files, client scripts, ActiveX controls and JAVA programs.
13 A dynamic web page means a web page that displays different content with the time, environment or result of database operation, although its code is the same as that used for a static page. This is achieved by a combination of basic HTML language specification with advanced programming languages such as Java, VB and VC, database programming and other techniques.
By November 2024, China’s mobile Internet traffic14 totaled 306.6 billion GB, up by 12% year-on-year.
Unit: 100 million GB.
Source: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, November 2024.
14 Since February 2024, the number of 5G mobile phone users and mobile Internet users as well as the 5G mobile Internet access traffic, provided by China Radio and Television Network Group Co., Ltd. (China Broadnet), have been included in the industry data.
The year of 2024 marked the 30th anniversary of China’s all-purpose access to the global Internet. Through trio-decade development, the size of Chinese netizens was 1,108 million, or over 20%15 of the global total, with the Internet penetration reaching 78.6%. Over the past three decades, the size of China’s Internet users has increased, the structure of netizens has grown more coordinated, and their digital literacy and skills have improved progressively. Hundreds of millions of people have shared the benefits of Internet development.
By December 2024, China had 1,108 million Internet users, an increase of 16.08 million over December 2023. The Internet penetration reached 78.6%, up by 1.1 percentage points over December 2023.
Left axis: Number of Internet users (10,000 persons). Right axis: Internet penetration rate (%).
Source: Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development, CNNIC, December 2024.
As of December 2024, the number of mobile phone users accessing the Internet reached 1,105 million, an increase of 14.03 million from December 2023, making up 99.7% of all the netizens.
Left axis: Size of mobile Internet users (10,000 persons). Right axis: Their proportion in all netizens (%).
Source: Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development, CNNIC, December 2024.
In 2024, China’s Internet recorded significant achievements in the development, application and promotion of information infrastructure. In the context, the size of Internet users saw continuous growth, further boosting the release of digital vitality and the sharing of digital dividends.
First, the network infrastructure was made more solid to meet users’ diversified access needs. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments have made overall arrangements and pushed forward the coordinated development of new information infrastructures across regions, networks and industries16. They have expedited the advancement from the Internet of everything to the smart connection of everything17, offering support for more users to access Internet services.
As of November, China had built a total of 4.191 million 5G base stations, accounting for 33.2% of all mobile base stations18. In mobile Internet of Things (IoT), the three major telecommunication enterprises had 2.642 billion cellular IoT end-users by November, representing 59.6% of mobile network end-connections (including mobile phone users and cellular IoT end-users)19. The pan-intelligent connection of people, machines and things has been advanced in an orderly manner. In satellite Internet, satellite 0320 in high orbit and Qianfan Constellation satellites of group 0121 and group 0222 in low orbit have been launched successfully, thus enhancing the capacity of integrated services.
Second, Internet applications have gained popularity to meet the diversified needs of Internet users. With the application and promotion of AI, 5G and other technologies, new digital products and services have emerged, covering areas like office, transport, culture and tourism, elderly care, and medical care. They have met the personalized needs of more than 1.1 billion netizens. Digital events for the elderly have been carried out in an orderly manner23, and more than 200,000 digital classes for the elderly24 have been held. The activities have allowed more elderly groups to share digital results. By December 2024, 47.4% of Internet users aged 60 and over had the ability of using mobile phone apps in the mode of the elderly.
As of December 2024, the size of China’s urban Internet users reached 795 million, accounting for 71.8% of all the Internet users. The size of rural Internet users amounted to 313 million25, making up 28.2% of the total. The Internet penetration in urban areas was 85.3%, an increase of 1.9 percentage points from December 2023. The Internet penetration in rural areas was 65.6%26.
Shares of urban and rural Internet users in total netizens, December 2023 vs December 2024.
Source: Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development, CNNIC, December 2024.
In 2024, the digital-real integration sped up the orderly advancement of digital villages, playing an important role in improving the production and living standards of villages and promoting the collaborative development of urban and rural areas.
First, the digital production model in rural areas has been promoted at a fast pace. With the construction of big data resource pools in agriculture and rural areas, benefits brought by enterprises to villages and public welfare activities for farmers’ consumption, digital technologies have been further applied in rural production, such as quality seed source sharing, intelligent farmland supervision and livestock risk control. Through these efforts, villages and enterprises have also well-developed in mutual support.
China has collected data on about 1.107 billion pieces of rural contracted land, 960,000 rural collective economic organizations, 900 million members, and 4 million family farms. The Agricultural QR Code platform has assigned 2.276 billion codes and the Agricultural Information App has served 1.06 million users27. The deep integration of digital production model with the agricultural industry provides a strong impetus to rural economic development.
Second, the digital service system in rural areas has developed. The telecommunication services and the broadband program in border areas have been advanced orderly, so that more people in rural and remote areas have access to the Internet28. 337,800 multi-functional village-level logistics stations have been completed, with the model of delivery, rural e-commerce, special agricultural products and farmers (cooperatives) widely promoted29. The telemedicine service network covers all cities and counties, and extends to communities and rural areas. 70% of health centers nationwide have established telemedicine collaborative relationships with higher-level hospitals30. The digital service system in rural areas, which is getting better, provides strong support for farmers’ production and life.
As of December 2024, the size of non-netizens had reached 301 million, down by 16.08 million from December 2023. By region, the majority of non-netizens were still in rural areas. Their proportion had reached 54.4% of the total non-netizens, 20.6 percentage points higher than that of the rural population in the total population. By age, the elderly group aged 60 and above was the primary group of non-Internet users, provided that children under the age of 6 were not considered. As of December 2024, the proportion of non-netizens aged 60 and above in the total non-netizens was 46.8%.
The biggest inconvenience in non-Internet users’ lives caused by lack of Internet access was inconvenient shopping, which accounted for 7.6% of the total. The proportions of inconveniences, such as difficulties in consulting a doctor, registering and buying medicines, in contacting family and friends, and in running errands and paying bills were similar, with each making up between 6% and 7%. Difficulties in getting a taxi, purchasing train and plane tickets, and other inconveniences accounted for between 5% and 6%, respectively.
Percentage of non-netizens citing each type of inconvenience due to not accessing the Internet.
Source: Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development, CNNIC, December 2024.
Shortage of skills, limited literacy, inadequate devices and age factors were major reasons why non-netizens did not access the Internet. 30.9% of non-netizens did not access the Internet because they did not know how to use the computer/Internet; 20.9% did not because they did not master Pinyin or due to literacy limitations; 13.0% did not because they did not have access to computers and other devices; and 10.8% did not because they were too old/too young to access the Internet.
Main reasons cited by non-netizens for not accessing the Internet.
Source: Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development, CNNIC, December 2024.
The primary factor for non-netizens to access the Internet was the convenience of communicating with their family members, accounting for 18.7%. Providing accessible Internet devices was the second factor in encouraging non-Internet users to access the Internet, representing 18.4% of the total. Helping to increase income, such as selling agricultural products, was the third factor in promoting access to the Internet, with a share of 15.7%.
Factors that would encourage non-netizens to start accessing the Internet.
Source: Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development, CNNIC, December 2024.
As of December 2024, the ratio of males to females among Chinese netizens was 51.1:48.9, which was roughly the same as that in China’s overall population.
Male vs female share among Chinese Internet users (%).
Source: Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development, CNNIC, December 2024.
As of December 2024, the proportions of Internet users aged 10–19, 20–29, 30–39 and 40–49 were 13.0%, 13.1%, 19.0% and 17.1% of the total, respectively. That of Internet users aged 50 and above increased to 34.1% from 32.5% in December 2023. The Internet has been further applied among middle- and old-age groups.
Age-group distribution of Chinese Internet users (%).
Source: Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development, CNNIC, December 2024.
Up to December 2024, the proportions of Chinese netizens accessing the Internet through mobile phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, TVs and tablet computers were 99.7%, 36.2%, 32.0%, 25.1% and 30.8% of the total, respectively. Those of netizens accessing the Internet via smart connected vehicles, smart home devices and personal wearable devices were 10.7%, 22.6% and 23.8% of the total, respectively. The number of netizens using smart connected vehicles to access the Internet reached 119 million.
Proportion of Internet users using each type of access device (%).
Source: Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development, CNNIC, December 2024.
As of December 2024, the per capita weekly online duration31 of China’s Internet users was 28.7 hours, up by 2.6 hours over December 2023.
Per capita weekly online duration of Internet users (hours), December 2020–December 2024.
Source: Statistical Survey on China’s Internet Development, CNNIC, December 2024.
In November 2024, among the five types of apps frequently used by mobile netizens, instant messaging apps had a more even distribution of usage period between 9 am and 19 pm, all accounting for more than 5%. The usage peak of online video apps appeared at 12 am, with the distribution of usage period reaching 6.2%. A small peak would reappear from 17 pm to 20 pm, which was in line with the leisure and entertainment schedule of most netizens.
The usage period distribution of online shopping apps and that of online payment apps were relatively similar, with over 80% of the total usage time between 7 am and 22 pm. The peaks in the usage period distribution of online meal ordering apps were evident, with a high correlation with netizens’ meal breaks. The peaks occurred at 11–12 pm and 17–18 pm respectively.
Distribution of daily usage time for five app categories (instant messaging, online video, online shopping, online payment and online meal ordering), November 2024.
Source: China Unicom, November 2024.
15 International Telecommunication Union, https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/pages/stat/default.aspx .
16 China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202409/content_6972409.htm , August 19, 2024.
17 China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, https://wap.miit.gov.cn/jgsj/txs/wjfb/art/2024/art_2151f585f93349bea86654660c9cd7ce.html , September 12, 2024.
18 China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, https://www.miit.gov.cn/gxsj/tjfx/txy/art/2024/art_6b89a8e1b9524d1daab935aa960dbda2.html , December 23, 2024.
19 China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, https://www.miit.gov.cn/gxsj/tjfx/txy/art/2024/art_6b89a8e1b9524d1daab935aa960dbda2.html , December 23, 2024.
20 The website of China’s State Council, https://www.gov.cn/yaowen/tupian/202410/content_6979253.htm#1 , October 11, 2024.
21 Xinhua News Agency, http://www.news.cn/science/20240903/5bf288c1f58a434f97e5b0cb16fb7f64/c.html , September 3, 2024.
22 China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, https://www.miit.gov.cn/xwfb/gxdt/sjdt/art/2024/art_cb12d3fcee804cde90b297eb99e0d1ae.html , October 16, 2024.
23 China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, https://www.miit.gov.cn/jgsj/xgj/wjfb/art/2024/art_b360ce46d01941f58b60e1d4304eb780.html , May 14, 2024.
24 China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, https://www.miit.gov.cn/xwfb/bldhd/art/2024/art_82b4fe99f49a4025bdffdb97b2362d6d.html , October 23, 2024.
25 The size of China’s urban Internet users reached 795.24 million, and that of rural Internet users 313.08 million.
26 The rural Internet penetration is resulted from the latest rural population size calculated by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in 2024.
27 China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, http://www.scs.moa.gov.cn/gzdt/202409/t20240911_6462374.htm , September 11, 2024.
28 China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, https://www.miit.gov.cn/xwfb/bldhd/art/2024/art_82b4fe99f49a4025bdffdb97b2362d6d.html , October 23, 2024.
29 China’s Agricultural and Rural Information Network, http://www.agri.cn/zx/nyyw/202410/t20241018_8680168.htm , October 18, 2024.
30 People’s Daily Online, http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2024/0619/c458474-40259730.html , June 19, 2024.
31 Per capita weekly online duration refers to the average daily number of hours of accessing the Internet multiplied by 7 days in a week in the past six months.
Overseas social media is not available in China. Having your website found is critical to relationship-building and successful business in China.
Many regions worldwide include significant Mandarin-speaking audiences, including Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Chinese-speaking communities in North America and beyond. The Chinese market goes way beyond the 1.4 billion people living in China.
Given the importance of being visible online in China and across Chinese markets worldwide, our focus at Access to China is to bring your business, products, and services to the attention of Chinese audiences.
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Only 25% of foreign internet websites can be accessed in China; 20% take more than 20 seconds to open, and 55% cannot be accessed at all. When we tested the top 100 UK companies' websites from China. Only 14 websites were visible in China.
Can your business website be seen in China?
Purchasing a domain from a Chinese ISP gives your business access to the Chinese national NS/DNS service. Access to the Chinese NS/DNS service ensures your domain name is found on the first attempt in China, across Asia, and worldwide, whereas using an overseas NS/DNS does result in it not being found.
Access to China DNS services gives your domain the lookup speed needed for reliable discovery in China.
Our Chinese hosting sits at a critical intersection between international networks and Chinese internet infrastructure, with full access to the Chinese NS/DNS network.
Our services are split between mainland China and Hong Kong. No Chinese ICP certificate is required.
Access to China website hosting service allows your business website to be open in China.
We developed our dynamic website service to enable businesses to be seen on the internet in China without changing their existing website within a few working days.
Our service helps your website be seen in China by creating a dynamic copy of your site and addressing issues related to third-party services in China.
Access to China's dynamic website service gives your business website the tools to be seen in China.
WeChat is the “go-to” platform for businesses in China. The WeChat platform contains all the elements needed to run a business: messaging, email, social media, and website pages, as well as its proprietary software and programming tools, the “WeChat Mini Program”.
Access to China WeChat website service allows your business to be seen in China's largest and most successful business platform.
Our Chinese data centre services are in Suzhou, outside Shanghai. International data centre certification (Tier IV) and independent of ISPs, creating the opportunity to select the best network for your applications.
Access to China data centre services supports your current operations and the future growth of your business in China.
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Access to China has been operating in China for over 20 years. Over the past 7 years, we have been following the development of green technology.
Over this time, we have been creating databases, reviewing local projects, and building up local supplier networks.
Sourcing directly from the factories or the local wholesale market in China. Over the last 60 years, China has built its manufacturing base into one of the most successful in the world.
Access to China has sourced/manufactured over 300 products from China over many years. Our staff understand the manufacturing process in China and can source local products and components directly from Chinese manufacturers.
Access to China is currently creating a program to enable overseas companies to sell to China through the new free trade zone created in Hainan province.
More information to follow as it is available.
Green technology is key to the growth of most businesses over the next five years
Continue the Industrial Revolution started in the mid-18th century:-
WeChat is the “go-to” platform for businesses in China. It may be very different from many internet services used elsewhere. The WeChat platform contains all the elements needed to run a business: messaging, email, social media, and website pages, as well as its proprietary software and programming tools, the “WeChat Mini Program”.
Integrating your website into the WeChat Mini Program will make your business information available without the full costs of rebuilding your website inside WeChat.
WeChat, created by TenCent, launched in 2017, is built on a different platform that does not align with the industry standard for websites.
Mini Programs operate entirely inside the WeChat ecosystem. Users can access them by scanning QR codes, searching within WeChat, clicking links from official accounts, or receiving shared links in chats and group conversations.
E‑commerce stores, hotel and restaurant bookings, ride‑hailing services, event tickets, customer service platforms, and even government services such as health services and tax systems.
WeChat Mini Program is coded, like HTML / CSS, with a different command structure. You can create pages of detail, create an app, take sales, process orders, etc., all the processes you would see in a normal app.
The advantage is that, once trained, you can quickly and successfully create a WeChat Mini Program with less government certification required. The certification is still needed, but the WeChat management performs it.
Mini Programs do not require installation, are very small, update automatically, and are easily shared via WeChat. Traditional apps require downloading from app stores and manual updates.
To access your WeChat Mini Program, you need to sign in to WeChat. It cannot be downloaded onto a mobile or standard APP.
Most overseas business and social platforms, such as LinkedIn and YouTube, are unavailable in China. Although business websites are accessible in China, they respond very slowly. The exception to this rule is Microsoft Bing.
Our services create a WeChat Mini Program for your business containing “static and brochure business information”, the business details that describe your company, products and services. We then link your company website.
Having a WeChat Mini Program will give you a business presence in the Chinese business world, both within China and internationally. When meeting Chinese business people, a WeChat presence earns local respect and makes it easy for them to review and share your business details.
While WeChat search engine functionality is available across Mini Programs, millions of Mini Programs compete for search rankings. Just having a WeChat Mini Program will not always lead to new leads.
When your website is open on WeChat, it uses its own international WeChat browser. If you have not corrected the issues with your website “Being Seen” in China, your website will not open. See “Dynamic Website Service” to correct this.
All Chinese internet publishing rules (ICP) apply. This is normally not a problem for an international business.
We understand the challenges of getting your business seen online in China, and we only take on work when we know we can deliver results.
A WeChat Mini Program developed in China costs $3,000 to $5,000 to implement. We charge £500 to £750 to link to your existing website rather than creating a new website in WeChat.
We will always review work before undertaking for ICP compliance, website availability in China, and work to fix price terms.
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Green technology is key to the growth of most businesses over the next five years
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