BEIJING -- The number of internet users in China had reached 940 million as of June, accounting for one-fifth of the world's total, according to a report on China's internet development released Tuesday.

The internet penetration rate in China reached 67 percent, about 5 percentage points higher than the global average, said the report issued by the China Internet Network Information Center.

Residents in 98 percent of China's poor villages had access to the internet through fiber-optic cables, said the report, noting that the urban-rural digital gap had been significantly narrowed.

Internet services such as online education, medical consultation and remote-office facilities have great development potential due to the influence of the COVID-19 epidemic, said the report, adding that the number of online-education users now exceeds 380 million.