The latest statistics from iPass has revealed that worldwide business use of Wi-Fi hotspots increased by 46% from the first half of 2007 to the first half of 2008. Europe grew its use 89% year over year and now accounts for 47% of global use, up from 36% in 1H 2007.

In fact, nearly 70% of the growth in global Wi-Fi came from Europe. By comparison, North America grew 17% year over year and now accounts for 45% of usage, down from 56% the year before. The Asia Pacific grew by 54% to hold steady at 6% of worldwide share.

London remains the top city for business users of Wi-Fi, closely followed by Singapore and Tokyo. Chicago replaced New York as the top US city, and was fifth in the world. Likewise London also came top with its city train stations, which played host to the most number of Wi-Fi sessions, followed by the Japan Rail train network.