The Chinese government will try to raise the Internet accessibility to 45 percent of the population in the coming five years, said a white paper issued by the Information Office of the State Council Tuesday.

According to the paper, titled "The Internet in China", the government will further promote Internet development and application, so that more people can benefit from the Internet.

By the end of 2009, the Internet had reached 28.9 percent of the total population, higher than the world average.

The number of Chinese netizens had reached 384 million, 618 times that of 1997 with an annual increase of 31.95 million users.

At the same time, there were 3.23 million websites running in China, 2,152 times that of 1997.

The number of IPv4 addresses approached 230 million, making China the second-largest owner in the world.

Of all the netizens, 346 million used broadband and 233 million used mobile phones to access the Internet, according to the paper.

"These statistics make China among the top of the developing countries in developing and popularizing the Internet," it said.

The paper admitted that Internet development and application in China is imbalanced regionally, and between urban and rural areas.

"Hindered by different levels of economic development, education and informationization progress, the Internet has been developing more rapidly in the eastern than in the western parts of the country, and has a higher popularization rate in cities than in the countryside," it said.

By the end of 2009, the Internet had reached 40 percent of the population in eastern China but only 21.5 percent in western China.

Meanwhile, urban Internet users made up 72.2 percent of the national total, leaving the other 27.8 percent in rural areas.

"China still needs to make arduous efforts to bridge the 'digital gap' between different regions and between the urban and rural areas," the paper said.