The .nl ccTLD has reached three million domain registrations, making it the largest ccTLD when one looks at the number of domain names registered per person with almost one domain name for every five Dutch people. It is also the fourth largest ccTLD in terms of total registrations behind .cn, .de and .uk.The three millionth registration occurred on Friday (11th) afternoon to Vivian Lam who registered the domain name vivianlam.nl.The two millionth registration occurred on August 10, 2006 with a large proportion of the increase accredited to the increase in registrations of .nl domains for individuals. On January 1, 2007, 29 per cent of registrations were by individuals however that number had increased by four percentage points one year later.In announcing achieving the three millionth milestone, SIDN also announced some interesting facts about their namespace:

• .nl domain names have, on average 16 characters compared to a global average of 13
• 66% of domain name registrants use their .nl domain names for personal email address
• on average, 1,700 .nl domain names are registered every day
• the most expensive .nl domain name ever sold was voetbal.nl that sold way back in 2000 for 1 million guilder (around €453,780 or US$718,030)
• the prices of .nl domain names sold by auction last year averaged an increase of 50%, from €1,000 to €1,500.
• .nl domain names have a market share of 70% in the Netherlands compared to .com with 14% and .eu 9%
• and the very first .nl domain name (cwi.nl ) was registered on May 1, 1986.

A news release in Dutch announcing reaching the three millionth .nl domain name registration is available from SIDN here.