.EU domain name registrations grew 6.1 per cent year over year, the latest EURid progress report for the first quarter of 2012 revealed.
This represents the best annual growth in .EU registrations since Q3 2010 the registry revealed. The first quarter also saw nine per cent more new .EU registrations than at the same time a year ago.
“I am encouraged by .EUâs good start to the year and our continued upward growth in domain name registrations,” said EURidâs General Manager, Marc Van Wesemael. “It is a clear signal that Europeans have a definite appetite for .EU.”
Lithuania recorded the highest annual growth, with a 31 per cent increase of .EU registrations compared with Q1 2011, followed by Austria (22%) and Slovakia (18%). During the same period, registrations in a further seven European Union countries – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Malta, Poland and Slovenia – grew by ten per cent or more.
.EU completed the first quarter of 2012 with 3.59 million registered domain names, making it the sixth largest ccTLD. Today there are 3,572,856 registrations, meaning there has been a drop of around 200,000 registrations in the last three months. But during quarter one, .EU registrations increased in 23 of the 27 EU nations. Malta, Slovenia and Finland all saw quarterly growth of over four per cent.
The largest ccTLD continues to be .DE (Germany) with 15.07 million domain name registrations, followed by .UK (United Kingdom 10.13m), .TK (Tokelau), .NL (Netherlands â 4.96m), .RU (Russia â 3.83m) and then .EU.
The report also gives information on EURidâs yearly registrar satisfaction survey that was conducted during the fourth quarter 2011. The survey found 87 per cent of .EU registrars rated their experience with EURid as either âexcellentâ or âvery goodâ which was an improvement on 2010âs score of 84%.
EURid is planning on reducing complexity during 2012 and started the year by simplifying some of their transactions for registrars as procedures surrounding .EU trades and transfers, which have often been viewed as too complex by registrars. In February, EURid shared the consolidated proposal for the streamlined .EU trade and transfer process with the registrar community and the updated procedure is expected to be introduced later in 2012.
The full report for Q1 2012 is available for download at link.eurid.eu/reports.
To register your .EU domain name, check out Europe Registry here.