China’s Internet population is only five million people away of becoming the world’s largest online population, as it follows the United States closely, reaching 210 million people.

The Chinese government announced on Friday the growth, as the online population soared by 53 percent, in comparison to the 137 million reported in the period of time last year.

The official China Internet Network Information Center, also known as CNNIC, reported the figures for the government's Xinhua News Agency, saying that even if the online population keeps increasing, China still has some lags compared to the US.

According to Xinhua, China's online penetration rate was placed at 16 percent, while the Americans were at that point in the mid-1990s. These days, 75 percent of American adults are surfing the Internet and even more teenagers, the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported.

Even if it is likely for China’s online population to grow bigger than the American one, China still has to work on the accessibility of the Internet. Right now, one third of Web surfers access the Internet from a cyber-café and many Chinese cannot afford a computer. In addition, the Chinese administration imposes censorship for the Web pages that people see, despite its politics of promoting Internet use for education and business.

Also, China's government puts in prison those people who mail, post online, or access politically sensitive content from within China.