There was an overall increase in active Web users in August, with incremental growth in all 10 countries tracked by Nielsen//NetRatings except for the U.K.

The number of active home users went up across the board, with the largest percentage of increase taking place in France. The country experienced 6.95 percent growth in August. Brazil also added 248,511 users, a 1.86 percent growth over July.

The U.K. dipped less than half a percentage point (-0.39 percent), a loss of 93,751 users during calendar month.

Nielsen//NetRatings uses a sampling methodology applied worldwide, which allows for data aggregation on a regional and global basis.

Active Home Internet Users by Country, May and June 2006
Country	May 2006	June 2006	Change (%)	One-Month Difference
Australia	10,585,433	10,546,747	-0.37	-38,686
Brazil	13,246,186	13,397,404	1.14	151,217
France	18,414,460	18,031,245	-2.08	-383,215
Germany	33,373,792	33,037,119	-1.01	-336,672
Italy	16,946,925	17,163,440	1.28	216,515
Japan	42,405,468	41,703,859	-1.65	-701,609
Spain	12,484,324	12,625,991	1.13	141,667
Switzerland	3,769,940	3,804,251	0.91	34,310
U.K.	24,235,940	23,944,744	-1.20	-291,195
U.S.	143,229,214	143,683,489	0.32	454,275
Total	318,691,682	317,938,289	-0.24	-753,393
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, 2006

See Index News