Internet usage tracking firm, comScore Networks, has conducted a survey wherein India has emerged as the fastest growing country of Internet users, exceeding growth rates in the US, China, and Japan.

According to data compiled by comScore, India had over 21 million Internet users aged over 15 years at the end of January this year, as against below 16 million a year ago. And among the top 15 countries ranked according to penetration, Internet users in India, the Russian Federation, and China, grew by 33, 21, and 20 percent respectively.

The study also shows that the number of people using Internet worldwide grew by 10 percent to reach 747 million people by January 2007, with India topping the growth charts with a 33 percent jump.

The US has the largest online population of 153.4 million, although Internet usage in the country grew only at 2 percent. China comes at second place in terms of Internet population with 86.8 million users, followed by Japan with 53.6 million, Germany (32 million), and the UK (30 million) in the top five. India has been ranked as the eighth largest country in terms of netizens, ahead of countries like Canada, Italy, Brazil, Spain, Russia, the Netherlands, and Mexico.

However, the growth in Internet usage in India was far ahead of countries having a much larger online population, like the US, UK, Japan, Germany, South Korea, France, Spain, and the Netherlands, which registered only single-digit growth rates.

While India might have emerged the fastest growing country of Internet users, it does not feature among the top 10 countries in terms of average monthly hours online per unique visitor, as per the survey.

In terms of this particular parameter, Canada led the list, with the average user spending 39.6 hours online during the month, followed by Israel, and South Korea.

The survey also found that in each of the top 10 countries, the time spent online by users with a broadband connection was substantially greater than time spent by users with a narrowband connection.