BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The number of netizens in China had reached 904 million as of March this year, up by 75.08 million from the end of 2018, according to a report on China's internet development released Tuesday.

Internet penetration in China had reached 64.5 percent, up 4.9 percentage points over the end of 2018, said the report issued by the China Internet Network Information Center.

The number of netizens accessing the internet through mobile phones in China had increased by 79.92 million from the end of 2018 to 897 million in March 2020, accounting for 99.3 percent of the total number, said the report.

As of March, the size of internet users in the country's rural areas had reached 255 million or 28.2 percent of the total netizen population, up 33.08 million from the end of 2018, while the number of urban netizens had grown by 42 million from the end of 2018 to 649 million, accounting for 71.8 percent of the total, showed the report.

The proportions of Chinese netizens accessing the internet through desktop computers, laptop computers, TVs and tablet computers stood at 42.7 percent, 35.1 percent, 32 percent and 29 percent by March respectively, the report said.