14 DAY TRIAL // Chrome continues to lead the chart of the world’s most popular web browsers, ending 2013 much as it started – on the first place.
Google’s browser had a worldwide market share of 43.92 percent in December 2013, on the rise compared to November’s 41.87 percent, StatCounter data shows.
Internet Explorer came as a distant second, with 23.24 percent market share, down from the 27.31 percent it had during the previous month.
Firefox came in on the third spot, with 18.95 percent share, a little over the 18.15 percent of November, while Safari’s 9.4 percent puts it on the fourth spot. Apple’s web browser is also becoming more popular; in November, Safari had a market share of 8.5%.
Opera ranked last, with 1.31 percent share, although the numbers are better than in the previous month when it only had a share of 1.18 percent.
When it comes to browser versions, Chrome 31.0 was the most popular one, with 36.69 percent market share. Firefox comes on the second spot with 9.14 percent market share and Internet Explorer 8.0 takes over the third place.
Data also indicates that most of the world is partial to Chrome, including North and South America, most of Europe, Australia and parts of Asia. Firefox rules central Africa, Indonesia and a couple of countries in Europe, while Internet Explorer is the most used browser in Greenland, China, South Africa and a few other nations.
Out of all browsers, Chrome had the best usage growth in the past year. In December 2012, 36.42 percent of the world’s Internet users surfed the Net with Google’s product.
Internet Explorer, on the other hand, lost 7.54 percent market share in the same period, while Firefox lost only 2.88 percent.
Not all statistics indicate the same results. For instance, Net Applications, puts Internet Explorer at the top of the list, with 20.64 percent market share, way above the 12.88 percent taken over by Google’s Chrome.
