Posts tagged "cctld"

16 posts found.

March 24, 2026 26 min read

China's .CN: 1 Billion Internet Users, 52 Million Hostnames — and the Half That Never Answers

We parsed 52.2 million observed hostnames in the .cn namespace — the world's 6th-largest TLD — and ran a fresh A-record crawl against it. Only 49.0% of .cn hostnames return a live IPv4 address, far below the 58.9% whole-namespace rate and the 70-81% seen across European ccTLDs. China has 1.41 billion people and roughly 0.037 .cn hostnames per person, the lowest density of any major internet economy. The data points to why: a regulatory gauntlet of real-name verification and ICP licensing, a super-app economy where WeChat Mini Programs replace websites, and a namespace where a large share of names are registered or observed but never go live. Refreshed June 2026 with first-party resolution data.

March 23, 2026 30 min read

The Netherlands' .nl: 36.3 Million Hostnames, the Internet's First Country Code, and the Quiet Backbone of Everything

We parsed 36.3 million observed hostnames in the .nl namespace — rank #11 of 1,511 TLDs. ISP reverse-DNS from Ziggo, XS4ALL, and Chello accounts for a large share of them. The Netherlands — about 17.9 million people — registered the first active country-code domain in 1986, hosts the world's largest Internet exchange, headquarters RIPE NCC, and produced the DNS software that powers the global root. At roughly 2.03 observed hostnames per resident, .nl is the densest national namespace in Europe, and 71.7% of those hostnames return a live A record — well above the 58.9% whole-namespace rate. Refreshed June 2026 with first-party DNS resolution data.

March 23, 2026 28 min read

Brazil's .br: 50.3 Million Hostnames, a Profession-Gated Namespace, and the Internet's Most Opinionated ccTLD

We counted 50.3 million observed hostnames in the .br namespace — the 8th-largest TLD on Earth and the largest ccTLD in the Americas. Brazil built the most elaborate domain categorization system of any country: a heavily-structured second-level system with com.br for commerce alongside dozens of credential-gated professional zones for licensed lawyers, doctors, and engineers, mandatory government ID for every registration, and no public direct .br registration. A 9 June 2026 A-record crawl shows 60.6% of those hostnames still resolve — slightly above the whole-namespace average. Refreshed June 2026 with first-party resolution data.

March 23, 2026 19 min read

The United Kingdom's Domain Dilemma: 43.8 Million Hostnames, Two Versions of One Country Code, and a Split That Won't Heal

We analyzed 43.8 million observed hostnames in the .uk namespace — the 9th-largest TLD on Earth — and asked why Britain still runs two competing versions of its own country code. Twelve years after Nominet opened direct .uk registration alongside legacy .co.uk, the legacy format still dominates. Inside the split, the governance crisis, and how much of the namespace actually resolves. Refreshed June 2026 with first-party DNS resolution data.

March 22, 2026 26 min read

Tiny Islands, Massive TLDs: How Tokelau, Tuvalu, and Niue Built Some of the Internet's Largest Domain Extensions

We analyzed 3.18 billion observed hostnames across 1,511 TLDs and found that ten island territories with a combined population under 500,000 host 39.1 million hostnames. Tokelau's free-domain .tk holds 7.2 million hostnames but only 2.5% resolve. Tuvalu's .tv funded the nation's UN membership. Niue lost control of .nu entirely. Three islands, three models, three very different outcomes. Refreshed June 2026 with first-party DNS resolution data.

March 22, 2026 24 min read

Germany's .de: 117.7 Million Hostnames, One Cooperative, and How a Non-Profit Built the World's Largest Country-Code TLD

We analyzed 3.18 billion observed hostnames across 1,511 TLDs and found .de ranks 3rd globally with 117.7 million hostnames — the largest country-code TLD on Earth, larger than .org and every other ccTLD. 75.2% of those names still return a live A record, among the highest liveness of any major TLD. How a Frankfurt cooperative charging EUR 2.20 per domain outbuilt every other nation's namespace. Refreshed June 2026 with first-party resolution data.

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