China's Net user population, the world's largest, grew to 618 million by the end of 2013.

Figures from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) showed that there were 53.58 million new Internet users last year, of which 73.3 percent use mobile phones to access the Internet.

The number of mobile phone Net users totaled 500 million by the end of 2013 as people developed a heavy reliance on instant messaging services.

Chinese Net users were less interested in microblogs and social media websites, with the number of microblog users declining 27.83 million from the end of 2012, said the report.

Xinhua