Global Internet population surpasses 1 billion

The number of people on the Internet surpassed one billion in December, according to comScore.

The figure is a hotly contested one: just last June, Internet World Stats counted almost 1.5 billion around the globe.

Despite those figures, just 15 to 22 percent of the world's population is estimated to be on the Internet.

Here's a quick summary of unique visitors by countries and global region, according to the figures:

Top 15 countries, by Internet population:

1. China: 179.7 million
2. United States: 163.3 million
3. Japan: 60.0 million
4. Germany: 37.0 million
5. United Kingdom: 36.7 million
6. France: 34.0 million
7. India: 32.1 million
8. Russia: 29.0 million
9. Brazil: 27.7 million
10. South Korea: 27.3 million
11. Canada: 21.8 million
12. Italy: 20.8 million
13. Spain: 17.9 million
14. Mexico: 12.5 million
15. Netherlands: 11.8 million

By region:

• Asia Pacific: 416 million (41.3%)
• Europe: 283 million (28.0%)
• North America: 185 million (18.4%)
• Latin America: 75 million (7.4%)
• Middle East & Africa: 49 million (4.8%)

Here are comScore's actual tables:

And one more of the Top 15 global site properties:

Disclosure: ZDNet is a property of CBS Interactive, a division of CBS Corporation.