Half of the 10 countries followed each month by Nielsen Online saw their active Internet home user populations drop in September compared to August. The U.S. lost the most users, while Switzerland lost the largest percentage of its users.
To start with the positives, Spain saw the biggest percentage gain from August to September as its active Internet home user population grew from 15.7 million to 16.8 million, an increase of 6.91 percent.
Italy also saw significant growth as its Internet user population grew by 751,570, or 3.64 percent.
France, Brazil and Australia all saw month-to-month growth of less than 1 percent.
Switzerland lost 3.47 percent of its online user population, or 130,955 users.
Japan saw its Internet user population drop 2.22 percent, which translates to more than 1.1 million users.
The U.K. lost 551,474 users in September, or 1.92 percent.
The U.S. saw its Internet population shed more than 2.5 million users, or 1.65 percent, while Germany lost less than 1 percent of its active online users.
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