Some 17.5 million blogs are being published in China, according to new research from a local government-sponsored internet organisation.

China has around 75 million regular blog readers, representing slightly more than 61 per cent of its online population of 123 million, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) reported. 

The actual number of people who have signed up with accounts at blogging services in China is even higher than these figures, reaching almost 34 million by the end of August this year, the CNNIC says.

However, half of these accounts have not yet been put into regular use by their owners. Such 'sleeping blogs' are a huge waste of internet resources, the CNNIC arguedin a statement issued at the weekend.

Of the 17.5 million blogs that are in use, the CNNIC describes 7.7 million as 'active'. The organisation defines active blogs as those which are updated at least once a month.

At the current rate of growth, the number of active blogs in China will most likely exceed 10 million by the end of the year.

Globally, some 175,000 new blogs are being created every day, according to David Sifry, founder and chief executive of popular blog search site Technorati.

Technorati indexes blogs in many languages, including Chinese, and tracks more than 55 million blogs in total.