Russia goes to the European leaders in the number of Internet users

By the end of this year, Russia will reach the second place in Europe in the number of Internet users, and very soon - in the first. This forecast was made by the analytical agency eMarketer, which estimated the monthly audience of Russian users from three years and older to 40.3 million people. This roughly corresponds to the statistics obtained from surveys of the Russian Public Opinion Foundation.

If the eMarketer numbers are taken for truth, then with a monthly audience of 40.3 million Internet users, Russia from all European countries is second only to Germany in this indicator. It is clear that the lag will not last long, because neither Germany nor other Western European countries have been able to achieve growth rates comparable to Russia for a long time, because the penetration of the Internet there has exceeded 70%, so further growth is almost impossible.



According to eMarketer, by 2012 the number of Russian Internet users will increase to 59 million, which will be 42.7% of the country's population.
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It should be noted that estimates of eMarketer are still very optimistic. For example, in September 2007, comScore World Metrix statistics determined Internet penetration for Russia at a level of only 12% (for residents aged 15 years and older).

The Russian FOM, however, estimates Internet penetration (by monthly audience) at 23%, which gives us roughly the same figures.