China has overtaken the U.S. to become the world's most popular destination for cross-border shopping, according to a report by online payment provider PayPal and market research firm Ipsos. This is the first time China has topped the list.

The report surveyed more than 28,000 online shoppers from 32 countries. Of those surveyed, 21 percent of shoppers claimed to have purchased items from Chinese websites in the past 12 months. After China, U.S. (17 percent) and U.K. (13 percent) websites were the next most popular.

Seventy-six percent of respondants said they chose to shop overseas to get better prices; 65 percent said overseas websites gave them access to items unavailable in their own countries; 46 percent said they chose to shop abroad because the sellers offered free delivery; and 44 percent thought payment methods were more secure on non-domestic websites.

According to the report, consumers in the Asia-Pacific region have become the main mobile cross-border shopping group. In the region, an average of 37 percent of cross-border purchases were made on mobile devices, primarily smart phones.

The report shows that shopping on mobile devices has increased significantly in China in the past two years. Spending for items purchased from abroad using smart phones increased from 27 percent in 2015 to 35 percent in 2016.