.ORG Registrations Rise 10% in 2011 Nearing 10 Million

.ORG registrations grew by 9.9 per cent in 2011, reaching 9.6 million total domains under management by the end of 2011 — a net gain of 411,002 for the second half of the year.

.ORG registrations grew by 9.9 per cent in 2011, reaching 9.6 million total domains under management by the end of 2011 — a net gain of 411,002 for the second half of the year.The information was provided in the bi-annual domain name report published by the Public Interest Registry, “The Dashboard.”According to the most recent “The Dashboard”:

  • the renewal rate of existing .ORG websites for the second half of 2011 was 75.4 percent
  • .ORG has maintained consistent growth between nine and 10 per cent annually for the past three years
  • ORG domains under management rose from 3.9 million in 2005 to 9.6 million in 2011 — an increase of 146 percent in seven years
  • North America and Europe continue to represent the regions with the most .ORG registrations, with Australia, China and Japan also making the top 10 country list for the second half of 2011.

As of end December, .ORG was the third largest generic Top Level Domain (gTLD), trailing .COM and .NET with around 98.9 million and 14.3 million domains under management respectively. Overall it was the fifth largest TLD, also trailing the country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) of Germany (.DE) with 14.7 million registrations and the United Kingdom (.UK) with 14.7 million and 9.8 million domains under management respectively..ORG has kept quite a distinctive profile unlike other TLDs given its community background. Of all registrations, clubs and groups make up 16 per cent of all registrations. The categorisation is done through indexing by leading search engines using keywords for specific subject categories.Also ranking highly are the categories of charities, schools and environmental groups, each making up 15 per cent of all registrations while “wikis and open source” make up 13 per cent of all registrations.Registrations are also predominately from the United States, with 59 per cent of all registrations coming from the US. The next largest country of origin for registrants is Germany with five per cent of registrations while next are the United Kingdom and Canada (4% each) followed by France and Austria with three per cent each.”With Internet usage continuing to surge worldwide, and individuals and organizations alike placing even greater importance on doing good and promoting their passions online, it’s no surprise that .ORG continued to see consistent and substantial growth during the second half of 2011,” said Brian Cute, CEO of The Public Interest Registry. “We look forward to maintaining this consistent growth, as well as expanding globally in 2012.”Also highlighted in “The Dashboard” for the second half of 2011 is PIR’s announcement of its intention to pursue the new domain extension, .NGO. This initiative is a major opportunity for non-governmental organisations (NGOs), a community that depends on those three letters to set itself apart from commercial or governmental bodies. PIR believes that NGOs worldwide would benefit from .NGO as an exclusive signature online where they can effectively differentiate themselves and advance their missions. As part of this initiative, PIR intends to make the latest online innovations accessible to NGOs in both developed and developing countries.

In addition, “The Dashboard” underlines PIR’s continued commitment to pioneer and advocate for advanced security standards for the Internet and for finding collaborative solutions to such hot-button issues as copyright infringement and online piracy while still promoting an open, global and unfettered Internet.For more information on “The Dashboard” or to download a copy, please visit pir.org/news/dashboard.

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