The United States took the lead in terms of time spent online in January 2008, according to the data from Nielsen Online.

The data was derived from nine countries, including the United States, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Australia and Switzerland during January 2008.

France and Spain followed in the second and the third spots, while Australia and Switzerland lagged behind.

According to Nielsen Online, a U.S. online user on average spent more than 28.5 hours surfing the Internet, double the usage time in Australia and Switzerland. France was on the second spot with just under 20 hours, while Spain and the United Kingdom followed, each with more than 18 hours per month. In Brazil, Germany and Italy, a user spent about 16 to 17 hours online on average in January 2008.