Registrations for eu domain names double in five years

The demand for domain names is increasing all the time as more and more firms develop a presence on the web. This is not surprising given the potential of the internet. It enables businesses to interact with consumers in a dynamic way and can make the process of tapping into new markets much easier.

One type of domains that have seen considerable growth over the last five years is those that contain .eu. Registrations for these have doubled over the period, according to .eu top-level domain registry EURid.Commenting on this, general manager of the organisation Van Wesemael said: “Today we celebrate .eu’s public launch five years ago. Steady growth since then has reinforced .eu’s position as one of the world’s ten largest top-level domains.”

He added: “This proves that .eu gives companies an effective means to present themselves online as open for business across Europe.” Businesses, organisations and residents in the EU began using these domains when they became available in April 2006. In the launch month alone, 1.7 million domains were registered. Now, there are 3.4 million, meaning that .eu is the ninth largest top-level domain in the world.

EURid also revealed that Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Estonia have had the strongest growth rates, while Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, France and Poland have emerged as the largest markets in .eu.The organisation added: “To put this growth in context, certain EU countries have shown more growth in .eu registrations since April 2006 than in their respective national top-level domains, including .eu’s largest market Germany.”

There is no indication that demand for such domains will fall over coming years given the increasingly prolific use of the web among consumers and businesses alike. Indeed, it seems likely that strong growth will continue to characterise the sector.