There Are 225 Million Domain Names On The Internet

Sites include verisign.com . Published on March 25th, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

The internet in terms of size is can be represented by the number of domain names that are registered, and top-level domains are a good start point.

Thanks to VeriSign, operator of the .Com and .Net extensions, we can get a glimpse into the sheer size of the net. According to the latest figures released by VeriSign, there are around 225 million domain names registered at the top level. This new figure represents a growth of over 20.4 million domains since the last quarter of 2010.

But top level domains aren’t the only aren’t the only ones growing. According to VeriSign, country code domains are growing rapidly too. Whilst top level domains have grown only 10% since Q4 2010, country code TLDs have grown 13.4%. Leading the charge is the .DE extension for Germany. It is by far the most popular country code TLD and many domainers speculate on this extension alone. It is followed of course by the .CO.UK extension which also has some popularity among domainers.

VeriSign also used the reporting opportunity to touch on the dangers of domain hijacking, the practice of stealing legitimate ownership from unsuspecting registrants.

Still, it is good to see that new domains are being registered to broaden the pool of what exists already.