BDA, a firm based in Beijing, said data from the China Internet Network Information Center indicated China had an Internet population of 210 million at the end of last year, compared to 216 million in the United States.

"Based on these sources and the assumption that these markets have continued to grow in 2008 to date at the same rates that they grew in 2007, we can conclude that China has by now comfortably surpassed the United States as the world's largest Internet population," Bin Liu, BDA's chief media analyst, said in a statement.

BDA estimated revenues from China's online games sector totaled $1.88 billion last year.