WebProNews

In May, children aged 2-11 consisted of nearly 16 million, or 9.5 percent of active Internet users, according to a new report from Nielsen Online.

Since 2004, the number of kids online has climbed 18 percent, as compared to 10 percent for the total Internet audience, with a fairly even split between boys and girls. The growth of children online outpaces the overall growth of children in the U.S., where kids under 14 are projected to decrease by 1 percent from 2004 to 2010 according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Time spent online among children aged 2-11increased 63 percent in the last five years, from nearly 7 hours in May 2004 to more than 11 hours online in May 2009. Time spent among kids outpaced the increase for the overall population, which grew 36 percent in the last five years.

Boys spent 7 percent more time online than girls; while girls viewed 9 percent more Web pages than boys did in May 2009.

Online video viewing among 2- 11 year olds was divided nearly evenly between boys and girls, with 5.1 million boys and 5.2 million girls viewing online video in May.

Online video consumption between boys and girls was less even. Boys led in viewing and time spent, consuming 61 percent of video streams among children and accounting for 57 percent of the time spent viewing videos.