As of 31 December 2015, there were 14.8 million .de domains registered in 402 cities and districts of Germany according to DENIC’s 2015 Domain Map. Additionally, there were more than 1.1 domains where the registrant was located outside of Germany. Combined this meant there were 16.01 million .de domains.But even though German reunification occurred in 1990, the Domain Map shows there is still a moderate but significant east/west divide when it comes to .de domain distribution. The Domain Map shows the regional distribution of domain names in Germany, and where domains were registered by total numbers and on a per capita basis.When looking at total numbers of registrations by location, the same three cities at the top. With 995,563 domains, Berlin is still the undisputed number one followed by Munich (605,511) and Hamburg (592,440) which have swapped places. When referring to domain registrations per capita, Osnabruck leads again with 1,444 .de domains per 1,000 inhabitants followed by Munich (430) and Bonn (415).In regard to administrative regions, Bavaria leads with Starnberg (473 domains) ahead of Freising (430) and the district of Munich (377). The national average increased by two to 183 .de domains per 1,000 inhabitants. Variations, particularly when it comes to administrative regions, occur in part due to domainers holding large numbers of domains.When it comes to registrations at the state level, there is a noticeable difference between the states of the former East and West Germany. And the top states remained the same. The state of Hamburg – comprising the city of Hamburg and its wider outskirts – with 339 domains per 1,000 inhabitants maintains its uncontested leading position and stays far ahead of Berlin (291) and the state of Bavaria with its vast lands (209). As in the preceding year, the state of Saxony-Anhalt has the lowest number of registrations (82) behind Thuringia and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, both with 106 domains per 1,000 inhabitants.The national growth rate (1.28%) doubled compared to 2014 (0.63%). The average growth rate was exceeded by six German federal states in 2015, particularly Berlin (4.2%) and Schleswig-Holstein (2.5%) scored much higher. Excluding Berlin, the average domain growth among the states of the former East Germany dropped to 0.25 percent compared to 1.17 percent in 2014. Saxony is the only East German state that reported a negative growth (-0.1%).The states with the most registered domains were North Rhine Westphalia (3.30 million) and Bavaria (2.64 million).Looking at registrations abroad, the year-on-year total domain growth rate for 2014-15 was 1.3 percent compared to 1.4 percent in 2013-14. This was an increase by about 198,000 domains, taking the total number of domains registered abroad to 1,114,358, compared to 219,000 in the previous year. It means there were 6.9 percent of all .de domains registered abroad, the same as for the end of 2014.Registrants of .de domains come from 219 countries. As in the past, German domains are particularly popular in the United States (17%), the Netherlands (12%) as well as in the Russian Federation and the United Arab Emirates with 8 percent respectively.All in all, 16,009,814 domains were registered with DENIC on 31 December 2015. Statistically, every fifth inhabitant of the Federal Republic of Germany has registered a .de domain with Germany ranking fourth in the world after the Netherlands, Switzerland and Denmark.
East/West Divide Continues When It Comes To .DE Domain Registrations
As of 31 December 2015, there were 14.8 million .de domains registered in 402 cities and districts of Germany according to DENIC’s 2015 Domain Map. Additionally, there were more than 1.1 domains where the registrant was located outside of Germany. Combined this meant there were 16.01 million .de domains.