It’s a brand new year so you know what that means… last year’s statistics are out! There are two in particular that I’d like to focus on here.

Total Chinese Internet Users Passes Half a Billion

According to reports from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), a non-profit group with ties to the government, the total number of Chinese Internet users reached 513 million in 2011, up 12% from the year before. What’s more, nearly half of the half a billion Chinese Internet users use some form of microblog, or Weibo—China’s version of Twitter. That number increased threefold last year to 249.9 million. The data also show that 356 million people (69% of total Internet users) also go online using handheld devices, a 17.5% increase from 2010.

It’s hard to believe that 10 years ago less than 3% of Chinese people were connected to the Internet; today that figure has risen to 38% and can only increase. Comparatively, Internet penetration in the United States is around 78%, though America only has 312 million people, less than the number of Chinese who access the Internet through mobile devices.

More Chinese Live in Urban Areas for First Time in History

According to Businessweek:

The number of people living in towns and cities increased by 21 million to 690.79 million at the end of 2011, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The rural population fell by 14.56 million to 656.56 million, the bureau said.

This could be the first time ever that more Chinese people live in cities than in rural areas. However, according to msnbc, “The total figure includes 252.78 million migrant workers, although it wasn’t clear how those were classified.” Comparatively, 51% of the world population and 82% of Americans reside in urban areas.

What Does All This Mean?!

Everyone knows that 73% of statistics are made up, but there’s no doubt that China is becoming increasingly urban and technological. What does this mean for the country in 2012?

Predictably, the Internet will become a more and more dominant medium of information and idea sharing, especially for the younger generation in China. This means that it will also become a larger and larger focus of government maintenance and regulation. Weibo is of special concern owing to its speed of transmission of information, true or false, good or bad.

As for the urbanization of China, I’ve written before about the devastating environmental impact of urbanites. People in cities consume more and create more waste, and the rising number of city dwellers can only serve to increase the strain on the environment and available resources. Moreover, those that migrate to urban areas for jobs face tremendous competition in the job market and high real estate prices.

These latest numbers are indicative of longer trends that are likely to continue and, in the case of urbanization, have been going on for decades. These changes are happening on a massive scale and managing their effects, both foreseeable and unforeseeable, will be one of the biggest challenges of this decade.

Other Sources:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/248229/chinas_internet_users_cross_500_million.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/16/us-china-internet-idUSTRE80F07820120116

Featured photograph © duncan from Flickr.