CricketMX.com

Japan has overtaken Korea as the country with the most Net users, with Canada now occupying the number two spot, says a new study.

In fact, Net adoption appears to be plateauing in the US and Canada where regular usage in 2005 was essentially flat, compared to 2004, it says.

Moreover, global Net adoption is showing signs of slowing, with many of the world's leading Net economies showing "modest year-over-year growth," says an Ipsos Insight study for 2005.

The global online population grew 5% compared to 2004's 20% growth rate observed in 2004, and the number of people expecting to go online in the next 12 months was about the same in 2005 as 2004, "indicating prospects for growth in 2006 may be just as temperate," says the company.