New comScore research reveals that the total number of European Internet users aged 15+ grew 8% during the past year to 241.8 million visitors in June 2008. Similarly 39% of Europeans have gone online, with penetration being strongest in the Netherlands at a staggering 82%.

Russia ranked as the fastest-growing Internet audience in Europe, up 27% to 17.5m visitors, followed by France (up 21% to 31.5m), Spain (up 15% to 16.2m), and Ireland (up 15% to 1.6m). The UK can be found resting in 7th place with a growth of 10% (34.8m), up from 31.6m in June 2007.

However, ordering the list by size instead of growth places the UK 2nd behind Germany's 34.9m, with France trailing in 3rd. Coincidentally the UK also came 7th in the league table of European Internet penetration with a figure of 65%:


UK 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. Although Russia had the fastest-growing audience in Europe, it ranked near the bottom in terms of penetration and page views.