Editing Country code top-level domain (section)

{{Short description|Internet top-level domain used by or reserved for a country}}
{{Redirect2|ccTLD|cc TLD|the TLD for the Cocos (Keeling) Islands|.cc}}
{{For|a list of TLDs|List of Internet top-level domains}}
A '''country code top-level domain''' ('''ccTLD''') is an [[Internet]] [[top-level domain]] generally used or reserved for a [[country]], sovereign state, or [[dependent territory]] identified with a [[country code]]. All [[ASCII]] ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs.

In 2018, the [[Internet Assigned Numbers Authority]] (IANA) began implementing [[internationalized country code top-level domain]]s, consisting of language-native characters when displayed in an end-user application. Creation and delegation of ccTLDs is described in RFC 1591, corresponding to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes. While [[gTLD]]s have to obey international regulations, ccTLDs are subjected to requirements that are determined by each country's domain name regulation corporation. With over 150 million domain name registrations as of 2022, ccTLDs make up about 40% of the total domain name industry.<ref name="verisign">{{cite web|url=https://www.verisign.com/assets/domain-name-report-Q12021.pdf|title=Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief Q1 2021|website=verisign.com|access-date=2021-06-06|archive-date=2021-06-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606172302/https://www.verisign.com/assets/domain-name-report-Q12021.pdf|url-status=live|language=en}}</ref>

Country code extension applications began in 1985. The registered country code extensions in that year included [[.us]] (United States), [[.uk]] (United Kingdom) and [[.il]] (Israel). The registered country code extensions in 1986 included [[.au]] (Australia), [[.de]] (Germany), [[.fi]] (Finland), [[.fr]] (France), [[.is]] (Iceland), [[.jp]] (Japan), [[.kr]] (South Korea), [[.nl]] (Netherlands) and [[.se]] (Sweden). The registered country code extensions in 1987 included [[.nz]] (New Zealand), [[.ch]] (Switzerland) and [[.ca]] (Canada).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/cctlds-21-2012-02-25-en|website=ICANN (iana.org)|title=ccTLD|date=2012-02-25|access-date=2020-05-14|archive-date=2020-05-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507123705/https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/cctlds-21-2012-02-25-en|url-status=live|language=en}}</ref> The registered country code extensions in 1988 included [[.ie]] (Ireland) [[.it]] (Italy), [[.es]] (Spain) and [[.pt]] (Portugal). The registered country code extensions in 1989 included [[.in]] (India) and [[.yu]] (Yugoslavia). In the 1990s, [[.cn]] (People's Republic of China) and [[.ru]] (Russian Federation) were first registered.

There are 308 delegated ccTLDs. The [[.cn]], [[.tk]], [[.de]], [[.uk]], [[.nl]] and [[.ru]] ccTLDs contain the highest number of domains. The top ten ccTLDs account for more than five-eighths of registered ccTLD domains. There were about 153 million ccTLD domains registered at the end of March 2022.<ref name="verisign"/>