Most Popular TLDs By Country: Largest ccTLDs Ranked

The most popular top-level domain in the world is .com, with 166.6 million names at the end of June 2026. Inside most large countries, though, the local country code still leads. China’s .cn is the biggest country-code TLD (ccTLD) with 20.9 million names, followed by Germany’s .de with 18.0 million and the United Kingdom’s .uk with 10.5 million, according to the Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief for Q2 2026.

This guide ranks the largest ccTLDs, walks through each major market by region, and explains who is allowed to register them. It closes with what your domain choice means for international SEO, so you can pick a setup that fits the countries you sell to.

Every figure below comes from a registry, Verisign, CENTR, IANA or Google, and each one carries the date it describes. Registries publish on different schedules, so the dates are not all the same.

The Global Split: .com Against Every Country Code Combined

Before looking country by country, it helps to see the whole market. Verisign’s quarterly brief counted 401.6 million domain names across all TLDs at the end of the second quarter of 2026. That was up 9.1 million from the first quarter and up 29.9 million, or 8.1%, from a year earlier.

TLD group	Registrations (June 30, 2026)	Share of 401.6M	Year-over-year change
.com	166.6 million	41.5%	Part of +8.6M for .com and .net combined
All ccTLDs (316 delegated)	148.6 million	37.0%	+5.2 million (+3.6%)
New gTLDs	52.9 million	13.2%	+13.4 million (+34.0%)
.net	12.5 million	3.1%	Part of +8.6M for .com and .net combined
Other TLDs (our calculation)	21.0 million	5.2%	Not reported separately

.com is still the most registered extension on the planet. Yet more than one in three domain names belongs to a country code, which is why the local extension still matters for anyone who sells abroad.

Growth has kept going since then. CircleID reported that the DNIB brief for Q3 2026 counted 411.6 million registrations at the end of September 2026, an increase of 33.0 million over the same quarter of 2025. The detailed ccTLD ranking below uses the Q2 2026 brief, because it is the latest edition with a full country breakdown that we could open.

The 10 Largest Country-Code TLDs, Ranked

The ranking below counts registered names under each ccTLD on June 30, 2026. The registry operator comes from the IANA Root Zone Database, which lists every TLD, its type and the organization that manages it.

Rank	ccTLD	Country or area	Registrations	Registry (per IANA)
1	.cn	China	20.9 million	China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)
2	.de	Germany	18.0 million	DENIC eG
3	.uk	United Kingdom	10.5 million	Nominet UK
4	.ru	Russia	6.9 million	Coordination Center for TLD RU
5	.nl	Netherlands	6.1 million	SIDN
6	.br	Brazil	5.8 million	Comite Gestor da Internet no Brasil
7	.fr	France	4.5 million	AFNIC
8	.au	Australia	4.4 million	auDA
9	.in	India	4.1 million	National Internet Exchange of India
10	.eu	European Union	3.7 million	EURid vzw

The top 10 hold 57.2% of all ccTLD registrations, so the other 306 country codes share the remaining 42.8%. Six of the top 10 sit in Europe, which says a lot about how strongly Europeans favor local domains.

One quirk is worth knowing. IANA lists .io, .co and .tv as country codes, just like .de or .jp. They belong to the British Indian Ocean Territory, Colombia and Tuvalu. Google says users and site owners often see some of these codes as generic, and that changes how it treats them, as you will see in the SEO section.

Europe: Where the Local Domain Usually Wins

Europe is the stronghold of the country-code domain. CENTR, the association of European ccTLD registries, estimated that European ccTLDs hold a median 54% market share of locally registered domains. That figure appeared in its Global TLD market report published in February 2024. In plain terms, in the typical European country, more local registrants choose the national extension than all other TLDs combined.

Price helps explain part of this. In the same report, CENTR found the median registrar price for a European ccTLD fell over 2023 to 9.4 EUR, while the same registrars sold .com at 12.5 EUR. Growth has also picked up. CENTR’s European ccTLD market review, April 2026 edition put median year-on-year growth for the 30 largest European ccTLDs at 2.5%, the strongest since early 2022.

Germany (.de): 18 Million Names and Counting

Germany has the largest ccTLD in Europe and the second largest in the world. DENIC announced that the 18-millionth .de domain was registered in June 2026, in a press release dated June 30, 2026. The registry adds that, statistically, almost one in six people in Germany holds a .de domain.

Year	.de milestone (DENIC)
1996	About 50,000 addresses
1999	Passed 1 million
2006	Passed 10 million
2026	Passed 18 million (June)

For a business targeting German buyers, this tells you what customers are used to seeing. A .de address is the everyday norm, not a niche choice.

United Kingdom (.uk): Large but Shrinking Slowly

.uk ranked third worldwide with 10.5 million names in June 2026. Nominet’s own .uk register statistics for 2024 show how that total is built. In July 2024 there were 8,630,819 co.uk names, 1,327,212 shorter .uk names, and 397,839 org.uk names, for a total of 10,459,541.

The same monthly data shows a gentle decline. The total fell by 229,391 names, or 2.15%, between January and July 2024. Monthly renewal rates sat between 74.9% and 76.4% from January to April 2024. The lesson is that co.uk still holds most names in the British namespace, while the shorter .uk holds only about one in eight.

If you are setting up a British site, our list of UK domain name registrars compares where to buy .uk and co.uk names.

Netherlands, Russia, France and the .eu Option

The Netherlands punches far above its size. Its .nl domain held 6.1 million names in June 2026, more than France’s .fr at 4.5 million, even though France has a much larger population. Russia’s .ru ranked fourth at 6.9 million.

.eu, run by EURid, is the only regional code in the top 10, with 3.7 million names. It suits firms that sell across the European Union under one brand. It does not point to a single country, so it cannot give you the sharp country focus that .de or .fr can.

Asia-Pacific: The Biggest ccTLD and the Fastest Growth

Asia-Pacific is home to the world’s largest ccTLD and the fastest regional growth. CENTR’s TLD market report published September 17, 2025 measured 12-month ccTLD growth of 3.7% in Asia-Pacific, against 1.9% in Latin America and 0.4% in Europe.

Europe’s six top 10 entries total 49.7 million names against 25.0 million for Asia’s two. Europe’s slower growth means that gap may narrow over time.

China (.cn): Number One Worldwide

.cn led every country code with 20.9 million names on June 30, 2026. It is managed by CNNIC. That is 2.9 million more names than .de and roughly double .uk. For brands entering China, the size of .cn shows how normal the local extension is for Chinese businesses.

India (.in): A Top 10 Entry

.in reached 4.1 million names in June 2026, placing it ninth in the world, just behind Australia. It is run by the National Internet Exchange of India. Indian firms can choose between .in and .com, so the decision rests on whether they serve only India or a wider market.

Japan (.jp): Most Names Are General-Use

Japan does not appear in the global top 10, but its registry data is unusually detailed. JPRS reported 1,825,932 .jp names as of January 1, 2026, in its JP Domain Name Registry Report 2025, published June 30, 2026.

.jp type	Registrations (Jan 1, 2026)	Share
General-use (example.jp)	1,246,931	About 68.3%
Organizational and geographic (co.jp, ac.jp and others)	568,503	About 31.1%
of which co.jp	493,944	About 86.9% of that group
Prefecture type	10,498	About 0.6%

The split matters for foreign companies. General-use .jp names are open to more applicants, while co.jp is tied to corporate registration in Japan, as the rules section below explains.

Australia (.au): Strict Rules, Strong Uptake

.au ranked eighth worldwide with 4.4 million names in June 2026. That is a big number for a country with strict eligibility rules. Every applicant must show an Australian presence, which we cover in detail below.

The Americas: Brazil Leads, Canada Guards Its Code

.br is the only ccTLD from the Americas in the global top 10, with 5.8 million names in June 2026. It is managed by the Comite Gestor da Internet no Brasil. Latin America as a whole grew its ccTLD base by 1.9% over 12 months, according to CENTR’s September 2025 report.

Canada’s .ca is not in the top 10, but its rules are among the clearest examples of a local presence requirement. If Canada is your market, see our guide to the top Canadian domain registrars before you buy. The United States country code, .us, is also absent from the top 10, while .com, whose registry IANA lists as VeriSign Global Registry Services, remains the largest TLD of all.

Who Can Register a ccTLD? Local Presence Rules Explained

A gTLD such as .com is open to anyone. A ccTLD follows the rules set by its national registry, and some are strict. Google’s own guidance warns that “some countries have restrictions on who can use ccTLDs, so be sure to do your research first.” Three well-documented examples show how much the rules vary.

ccTLD	Basic rule	Foreign business route	Official source
.ca (Canada)	Must meet the Canadian Presence Requirements	Owner of a trademark registered in Canada, limited to the exact word part of the mark	CIRA
.au (Australia)	Must have an Australian Presence for the whole license period	Holder or applicant of an Australian trademark, exact match of its words only	auDA
.jp general-use	Permanent postal address in Japan	Needs that Japanese address	JPRS
co.jp	Official corporate registration in Japan	Foreign firms registered as Gaikoku Kaisha may apply	JPRS

Canada: 18 Eligible Categories

CIRA’s Canadian Presence Requirements for Registrants list 18 types of eligible registrants. They include Canadian citizens and permanent residents, corporations formed under Canadian law, trade unions, hospitals, government bodies and Indigenous peoples. Owners of a trademark registered in Canada also qualify, but only for a domain that contains the exact word part of that mark.

The residency test is specific. “Ordinarily resident in Canada” means living in the country for more than 183 days in the 12 months before applying, and in each 12-month period after that.

Australia: Presence Must Last the Whole License

auDA’s .au Licensing Rules require every applicant to have an Australian Presence. The rules add that a person “must continue to have an Australian Presence throughout the Licence Period.” Qualifying groups include citizens, permanent residents, companies registered under the Corporations Act, and entities with an Australian Business Number.

Foreign brands often use the trademark route. A pending or registered Australian trademark counts, but the domain must be an exact match of the words in that mark. Most of these rules took effect on April 12, 2021.

Japan: An Address in the Country

JPRS states that any individual, group or organization with a “permanent postal address in Japan” may apply for a general-use .jp name, with no limit on the number of names. A co.jp name is tied to an official corporate registration in Japan and is limited to one per registrant, according to the JPRS guide to JP domain names.

The practical takeaway is simple. Check the registry’s rules before you build a launch plan around a ccTLD, because the domain may not be yours to register.

What Your TLD Choice Means for International SEO

Domain choice is one of the first international SEO decisions you make, and it is hard to undo. Google’s guide to managing multi-regional and multilingual sites, last updated December 10, 2025, sets out four URL structures and their trade-offs.

Structure	Example	Google’s main pro	Google’s main con
Country-code domain	example.de	Clear geotargeting	Can only target a single country
Subdomain on a gTLD	de.example.com	Allows different server locations	Users might not tell whether “de” means language or country
Subdirectory on a gTLD	example.com/de/	Low maintenance (same host)	Single server location
URL parameters	site.com?loc=de	None (marked not recommended)	URL-based segmentation is difficult

How Google Works Out Your Target Country

Google says a ccTLD provides “a strong signal to both users and search engines” that a site targets one country. It also reads hreflang annotations in tags, HTTP headers or sitemaps. Other signals include local addresses and phone numbers on the page, local language and currency, links from local sites, and Business Profile signals.

Those last signals overlap heavily with local SEO. Our guide to local SEO covers addresses, phone numbers and Business Profile setup in depth, and our breakdown of local vs national SEO differences explains when country-level targeting is enough.

Server location matters less than many people think. Google calls it “not a definitive signal” because many sites use content delivery networks. Pick a host for speed and reliability first, using a list such as our SEO-friendly hosting services, rather than for its country.

Google treats some ccTLDs (such as .tv and .me) as gTLDs, as we’ve found that users and website owners frequently see these more generic than country-targeted.

Google Search Central, Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites

This is why a .io startup does not get treated as a site for the British Indian Ocean Territory. Google’s list of these generic ccTLDs includes .io, and Google says the list may change.

Using hreflang Without a ccTLD

You do not need a separate country domain to reach several countries. A single .com with subdirectories such as /de/ and /fr/ can work well when each version carries hreflang tags pointing to the others. Google says to use hreflang so its results “link to the correct language version of a page.”

When two regional pages share the same language, such as English for the UK and Australia, Google advises you to pick a preferred version with rel=”canonical” and add hreflang tags. It also warns against using IP detection to switch content, because Googlebot usually crawls from the USA and may never see your other versions.

A Worked Example: Choosing Domains for Three Markets

Picture a US software company that wants to sell in Germany, the UK and Australia. It already ranks well on example.com. Here is how the data above shapes the decision.

1. Check eligibility first. Read each registry’s rules before planning. .au requires an Australian Presence, so without an Australian company, ABN or trademark, the firm cannot register .au. Australia therefore goes on the .com as example.com/au/.
2. Weigh local habits. With 18 million .de names and a median 54% local share for European ccTLDs, a .de address looks normal to German buyers. That makes a .de site worth considering if the firm can staff German content.
3. Count the cost of new domains. Every new ccTLD starts with no link history. The firm’s existing links point to example.com, so subdirectories inherit that strength more easily. Our explainer on domain vs page authority covers why that history matters.
4. Research each market’s keywords. Germans and Britons search with different words, even for the same product. Run separate keyword research for each version instead of translating one list.
5. Connect the versions. Whatever the structure, add hreflang tags between every version, include local addresses and currency, and keep one preferred URL per language and region.

In this case, a sensible plan is example.com/uk/ and example.com/au/ for the English markets, plus either example.com/de/ or a separate .de site. The choice depends on whether the firm will invest in German content and German links over the long term.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Most Popular Top-Level Domain in the World?

.com is the most popular TLD, with 166.6 million registrations on June 30, 2026, according to Verisign’s DNIB. That is more than all 316 country-code TLDs combined, which held 148.6 million names.

Which Country Has the Most Domain Names?

Among country codes, China’s .cn is the largest with 20.9 million names, followed by Germany’s .de with 18.0 million, as of June 30, 2026. These counts cover each ccTLD only. They do not include .com or other gTLD names owned by people in those countries.

Does a ccTLD Help SEO?

A ccTLD gives Google a strong signal that your site targets one country, which can help in that market. It does not help in other countries, and a new ccTLD starts without the link history of your main domain. Google also treats some codes, such as .io, .tv and .me, as generic, so they carry no country signal.

Can I Register a Country Domain If I Live Abroad?

It depends on the registry. Canada, Australia and Japan all set local presence rules. Canada and Australia allow a trademark route for exact-match names, and a co.jp name needs Japanese corporate registration. Always check the registry’s own rules before buying.

Is .com or a Country Domain Better for an International Business?

A single .com with country subdirectories and hreflang is easier to maintain and keeps all links on one domain. Separate ccTLDs give the clearest local signal but cost more to build up. Many firms start with subdirectories and add a ccTLD only for their most important markets.

How Many Country-Code TLDs Are There?

Verisign’s Q2 2026 brief counts 316 ccTLDs delegated in the root zone, including internationalized versions written in non-Latin scripts. IANA’s Root Zone Database lists each one with its manager.

My Recommendation

If you sell in one country only, register its ccTLD, especially in Europe where the local code is the norm. If you sell in several countries, start on a single .com with subdirectories and hreflang, then add a ccTLD for any market where you can meet the eligibility rules and commit to local content and links. Buy your names from a registrar that handles ccTLD rules well, such as the options in our guide to domain name registrars for small businesses, and secure the .com and key country codes early so no one else takes them.