Nielsen//NetRatings believes that usage of the Internet from homes actually shrunk worldwide during the past year. The auditing firm estimates that 3.5 million fewer people worldwide used the Internet at home from May 2004 to June 2004.

In the U.S. alone, 3.6 million fewer people used the Internet from home, according to Nielsen//Netratings. Although the U.S. had the greatest numeric shrinkage. the percentages of shrinkage in Hong Kong and Switzerland were higher, three percentage points in each. The number of people accessing the Internet from their home also shrunk in Austrialia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden, but increased in Brazil, France, Japan, and the U.K.