The third million .eu domain name was registered on 11 January by a German citizen.

Two and a half years after its launch, this confirms the success of the .eu top-level internet domain. It is the fourth most popular internet domain among European country domains and the ninth worldwide.

"The three million .eu domains reflect the confidence of European internet users in .eu," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media.

"This achievement, just a few months before its third anniversary, indicates how .eu has clearly won public favour: a growing number of internet users are embracing the opportunity to express their European character online. In particular,

I am glad to see that an increasing number of small and medium-sized companies have adopted .eu as an integral part of their corporate identity and I am looking forward to seeing more companies taking advantage of .eu in the future."

By reaching the third million domain, .eu has well consolidated its place among the ten largest top-level domains in the world, such as .com, .net. and .org. Registrations for .eu domains have been steadily growing since its introduction in 2006.

In addition, .eu domains enjoy a good reputation: a recent survey carried out for EURid, the registry for .eu, shows that users not only perceive .eu as the genuine European internet identity, but also believe that .eu domains are innovative and modern.

Most .eu domains have been registered in EU countries with the largest populations and highest internet penetration. Germany continues to lead with 30%, followed by the Netherlands (14%), the United Kingdom (12%), France (8%) and Poland (6%).

Background

.eu first opened on 7 December 2005 to holders of prior rights (IP/05/1510). Since early April 2006, registration has been open to all EU residents and organisations with a registered seat in the EU (IP/06/476). Management of the .eu registry (the database holding all .eu registrations) is entrusted to EURid, an independent not-for-profit organisation.

By its first anniversary, 2.5 million .eu domain names had been registered (IP/07/483), another 300,000 domain names were added in 2007 (IP/08/530).