DENIC domain statistics 2009: Administrative district of Amberg-Sulzbach accounts for largest percentage increase in domains again – Osnabrück is new domain leader – West-East slope in domain registrations still existing

There is a new number one among cities and administrative districts with the largest number of domains per capita in Germany: With 451 DE domains per 1,000 inhabitants, the city of Osnabrück – in 2008 holding only rank 15 – catapulted itself to the top of the winner's podium in 2009. Thus, Munich (385) and Bonn (376) once again had to put up with the second and the third place, respectively. This is the result of the 2009 annual regional domain statistics kept by DENIC, the registry for DE domains. The analysis includes all 429 cities and administrative districts in Germany.

Compared to the 2007-to-2008 period, seeing a growth of eleven percent, the federal average increase rate of domains from 2008 to 2009 was 7.1 percent. This corresponds to a growth of about 770,000 (1.1 million in the previous year). Approximately 12,036,000 domains were thus registered at the end of 2009. In addition to that, there are about 800,000 domains with holders residing abroad. This is about 6.1 percent of the overall number of domains registered under DE.

Regional Level: West-East Slope still Prominent

As in the preceding years, the overall figures still display a pronounced difference between domain usage in the cities and administrative districts of the old and the new federal states, even though it has slightly decreased. The first place is occupied by Berlin with 213 domains per 1,000 inhabitants. In Eastern Germany, only Leipzig and Potsdam with 195 and 188 domains per 1,000 inhabitants respectively, exceed the federal average of 147 DE domains per 1,000 inhabitants. The domain strongholds still are the West German metropolitan regions including the conurbations of Munich, Hamburg, Cologne/Düsseldorf, the Rhine-Main Area and the Hannover region. Yet ranking 12 and 16, the Saxon cities of Leipzig and Dresden are gradually gaining ground.

Federal-State Level: Saxony Showing Strongest Growth

The latest growth rates on federal-state level confirm the upward trend in Eastern Germany: All relevant regions including Berlin are among the top ten of the fastest growing domain regions at national level. Saxony is leading with a plus of 11.5 percent compared to the previous year, closely followed by Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with 11.0 percent and the city state of Bremen with 10.0 percent. Hamburg, in 2008 still in a leading position with 14.9 percent, had to put up with the rear place in 2009, its plus amounting to a mere 1.1 percent.

Related to the number of inhabitants, however, Hamburg remains the uncontested number one with 272 domains per 1,000 inhabitants. It is followed by the federal state of Berlin with 213 domains per 1,000 inhabitants. Other areas that record domain numbers per capita above the federal average of 147 DE domains per 1,000 inhabitants are the federal states of Bavaria (178), Hesse (165) and Northrhine-Westphalia (154). Relatively speaking, Saxony-Anhalt with only 64 domains per 1,000 inhabitants still has the smallest number of DE domains.

Statistically, about every seventh inhabitant of the Federal Republic of Germany has registered a domain (14.7 percent compared to 13.6 in the previous year). With that figure, Germany still ranks fourth in Europe after The Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland.

Municipal Level: Munich Outperforms Hamburg

Once again, the highest growth rate was achieved by the administrative district of Amberg-Sulzbach with 367 percent, followed by the incorporated city of Osnabrück with 88.8 percent and – nearly level – by Wismar (88.3 percent). Place four holds Landshut with 68.5 percent, closely followed by Bamberg with a plus of 66.4 percent. Two-digit increase rates for local domains were reported by 82 administrative districts and communities. 22 of them even achieved growth rates of more than 20 percent.

As regards the absolute domain figures, the ranking among the leading trio of the last few years has changed. While Berlin still occupies the first place with about 731,400 domains (plus 8.0 percent), Hamburg was overtaken by Munich for the first time, with 511,000 (a plus of 12.7 percent) versus about 481,000 (i.e. an increase by 1.1 percent) registered domains.

International Level: Emirates Leading Non-Resident DE Domain Holders

As a matter of fact, DE domains are not only popular in Germany. At the end of 2009, about 800,000 domain holders – thus accounting for 6.1 percent of overall current holders – resided abroad. The ranking among the holders' countries of origin is the same as in the previous years: First come the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland with more than 100,000 domains respectively, then follow the United States of America, Great Britain, The Netherlands and Austria with more than 50,000 domains respectively.

All figures are based on an analysis of the domain database of the German registry DENIC as of 31 December 2009. They continue the regional domain statistics, which have been compiled by DENIC each year since 2000.

You will find the complete analysis as an Excel file in the statistics section of the DENIC website for downloading. It includes information on all administrative districts and incorporated cities. In addition to absolute values, the statistics also provide data on the number of domains related to the number of inhabitants as well as maps and diagrams showing the absolute and the relative distribution of DE domains in Germany along with domain holders from abroad: http://www.denic.de/en/background/statistics/regional-distribution.html