ICANN80 featured a session on Universal Acceptance, during which EURid's IDN World Report was presented.
According to the IDN World Report published by EURid, IDN domains account for 1.2% of the global domain market. There are 4.4 million IDN domains registered in the world: 3 million in national zones and 1.4 million in generic top-level domains (or 1.2% of the total number of registered domains). At the same time, 85% of country code domains and 41% of generic top-level domains support IDN registration.
The median annual growth of IDN domains was 0.6%, which is significantly lower than the previous year (2.5%). Among national zones, the greatest growth in IDN registrations was observed in the .РФ (Russia), .VN (Vietnam) and .HK (Hong Kong) zones, while most national zones showed minimal or no growth. And among the common domains are .COM, .NET, .TOP, .在线 (Chinese version of .ONLINE) and .商标 (Chinese .TRADEMARK).
The report also provides data from a survey of country code and generic top-level domain registries. 43% of registries believe that IDN domains are “important” or “very important” for improving Internet access for local language speakers, and 68% of registries believe that the concept of universal acceptance is the most important factor for increasing the number of IDNs, and it is more is more important than end-user awareness of IDN domains.
Session participants expressed the opinion that despite the efforts of ICANN and registries, the implementation of full support for IDN domains and especially EAI email addresses in software has been quite slow.
The session participants also discussed the results of the second Universal Acceptance Day (UA Day 2024), which took place around the world from March to the end of May. The key event dedicated to the Day of Universal Acceptance was held in Belgrade (Serbia) on March 28. The event was organized by the Serbian National Internet Domain Registry Foundation (RNIDS), ICANN and the Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG).
Both RNIDS and the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ are members of the Regional Coordination Group for Universal Acceptance of the CIS and Eastern Europe, and the holding of UA Day 2024 in our region with such a high level of support from ICANN and UASG demonstrated the special significance of this local initiative to promote the concept of universal acceptance in the world.
The implementation of the concept of universal acceptance is one of the priority areas of activity of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ. In addition to active participation in the work of the Regional Coordination Group for Universal Acceptance of the CIS and Eastern Europe countries, created in 2019, the Russian Working Group for Universal Acceptance, as well as the Center’s Поддерживаю.РФ project, make a major contribution to the development of internationalized domain names.
“Universal Acceptance of all domain names and email addresses available today, including nationally-characterized Internet identifiers, is a priority for ICANN. In this regard, the ICANN Board and various supporting organizations (ccNSO, At-Large) and advisory committees (GAC) today have specialized working groups and committees within its structure, the focus of which is to promote the implementation of IDN and universal acceptance in software and information systems interested organizations. This is a large-scale work that is being carried out by international experts at different levels. The Coordination Center believes it is important to actively participate in the activities of the UAC created by the ccNSO and the UASG in order to exchange experiences and learn from global practices in the implementation of universal acceptance. Also, together with colleagues from the Regional Coordination Group for Universal Acceptance of the CIS and Eastern Europe, the Center annually participates in organizing a regional conference within the framework of the global Universal Acceptance Day,” the Chief Analyst of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ and the Chairman of the Regional Coordination Group and Russian Working Group on Universal Acceptance Maria Kolesnikova said.
To recap, there are over 5.3 billion Internet users in the world today, and the next billion users are expected to gain access to the Internet in the coming years. Most new users live in countries where national languages other than English predominate, and achieving universal adoption will allow them to fully experience the social and economic benefits of the Internet, using the domain name and email address that best suit their interests, business, culture and preferred language of communication.
