Well over half of active Second Life users are from Europe, and the vast majority are from Germany, according to statistics released by research house comScore.

Approximately 1.3 million people ran the official software and logged in to Second Life in March, representing an increase of 46 per cent in the number of active 'residents' from January.

In March, 61 per cent of active Second Life residents were from Europe, compared to 19 per cent from North America and 13 per cent from Asia Pacific.

Germany has the most Second Life residents, at 16 per cent of the total, double that of France at eight per cent. The UK represents six per cent of active users.

ComScore reported that 61 per cent of residents are male and 39 per cent female.

The research firm also found that Secondlife.com was visited by 3.6 million worldwide visitors aged 15 and older during March, up 17 per cent from February and up 46 per cent from January.

"The phenomenal growth of Second Life continues, and its presence is being felt around the world," said Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe.

"With nearly 800,000 active residents in Europe, Second Life is proving to be popular on an international scale. It's especially fascinating to note that the number of active German residents exceeds the number of active residents in the entire US.

"It is little wonder that bricks and mortar businesses are seeing Second Life as a virtual-world way of accessing a real-world customer base."