Worldwide, some 694 million people 15 and older used the internet in March, according to comScore's newly launched World Metrix, writes DM News. The data exclude traffic from internet cafes and access from mobile phones or PDAs. U.S. internet users constitute roughly a quarter of the world's online population, whereas 10 years ago the U.S. accounted for two-thirds, according to Peter Daboll, president/CEO of comScore Media Metrix. Asian countries, including China, Japan, India and South Korea, now represent nearly 25 percent of the worldwide online population (168.1 million users), or 11 percent more than the U.S. total (152 million users).

MSN-Microsoft sites topped the list of media properties, with 538.6 million global users, followed by Google (495.8 million) and Yahoo (480.2 million); Yahoo led in pageviews (137.2 billion), followed by Google (108.7 billion) and MSN-Microsoft (96.2 billion).

In March, Israel led the list of average hours online per visitor (57.5 hours - twice as long as in the U.S.); others in the top five were Finland, South Korea, the Netherlands and Taiwan - all with high broadband penetration.

comScore's World Metrix is its first estimate of global online audience size and behavior based on what it says is the world's largest online behavioral research panel, with representation from countries constituting 99 percent of the global internet population.