Russia’s Internet population is on steroids

Russia has the fastest growing Internet population in Europe, research by ComScore shows. The study about the online behavior of European Internet audiences (based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service) learns us that the Russian Internet population has grown with 27 percent past year up to 17.5 million visitors.

The total number of European Internet users grew with 8 percent during the past year to 241.8 million visitors in June 2008. Next to Russia, countries like France (up 21 percent to 31.5 million visitors), Spain (up 15 percent to 16.2 million visitors), and Ireland (up 15 percent to 1.6 million visitors) also see the Internet becoming a more important part of their society.

See all the interesting stats in the press release. Here are some more highlights:

• Internet adoption was highest in the Netherlands, where 82 percent of the country’s total population age 15 and older went online in June.
• U.K. Internet users spent the greatest amount of time online, averaging 28.5 hours per user per month, while German Internet users recorded the most page views, averaging 2,906 pages per visitor.

Oh Russia

I could fill this blog with exciting news from Russia. Whether it concerns search giant Yandex, the iPhone launch, or dodgy oligarchs buying web stocks, the country’s Internet industry never ceases to amaze me.

What makes the country extra interesting, are the contradictions. While Russia has the fastest-growing Internet audience in Europe, it ranked near the bottom in terms of penetration and page views. Two conclusions can be drawn here: Russia still has a long way to go before they’ve bridged the digital divide and the Russian Internet market will become incredibly important when it has reached its full potential.