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[DENICpresse <presse AT denic.de>]

Dear Sir or Madam,

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 analysis includes all 429 
cities and administrative districts in Germany.

Compared to the 2007/2008 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

In case of queries, please revert to:

DENIC eG
Public Relations Division
Attn. Stefanie Welters
Ph. +49 69 27235-274
mailto: presse AT denic.de

-- 

DENIC eG
Kaiserstraße 75-77
60329 Frankfurt am Main
GERMANY

E-Mail: presse AT denic.de
Fon: +49 69 27235-274 
Fax: +49 69 27235-235
http://www.denic.de

Angaben nach § 25a Absatz 1 GenG:
DENIC Domain Verwaltungs- und Betriebsgesellschaft eG (Sitz: Frankfurt am 
Main)
Vorstand: Sabine Dolderer, Marcus Schäfer, Carsten Schiefner, Dr. Jörg 
Schweiger 
Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: Elmar Knipp
Eingetragen unter Nr. 770 im Genossenschaftsregister, Amtsgericht 
Frankfurt am Main

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