The famous .br domain celebrated its 30th anniversary on April 18, 2019, the same year that marks 3 decades since the inception of the web.
The .br domain, which stands for country code top-level domain, was introduced in Brazil in 1989, predating the widespread adoption of the Internet in the country. This article aims to highlight key moments in the history of this domain extension. Ready to explore?
Over 4 million domains have been registered.
In 1989, the .br extension was primarily utilized to identify machines in academic settings, with manual record-keeping. By 1991, following the introduction of Internet access in Brazil, the naming system under .br was established.
First, universities created subdomains like usp.br and ufmg.br. Later, popular domain categories were established, including gov.br (for government use), com.br (for companies), net.br (generic), org.br (for non-profit organizations), and mil.br (for the military).
The registration of .br domains in the country surged as the internet grew, with a significant increase from 851 in January 1996 to 7,507 in December of the same year. By 2006, the number had reached 1 million registered .br domains after a decade.
The expansion of .br has progressed steadily with the increasing use of the Internet in the country, leading to 4 million domains registered by 2018. As it celebrates its 30th anniversary, .br now has a total of 4,34,171 registered domains.
The table below shows the changes in .br domain registrations, which are updated daily by the Registry.br and posted on this entity’s webpage.
The CEO of the NIC.br, Demi Getschko, presents a short and interesting video that recounts the detailed history of .br.
The seventh most frequently registered ccTLD globally
The .br domain is widely utilized in Brazil, with 92% of companies owning websites using it, as reported by the 2017 ICT Business survey conducted by CGI.br.
.br’s significant popularity led it to be ranked 7th globally among top country code domains, which is noteworthy given the list includes over 300 ccTLDs.
Currently, Brazil ranks higher than France, Italy, Australia, and Canada in terms of internet domain usage. The top positions are held by Tokelau, Germany, China, United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Russia. This information is regularly updated by Cetic.br and shared through Internet Sector Panorama publications.
Over 120 categories available under .br.
The Registry. br has increased the options for subdomains available for registration over time, providing Brazilians with over 130 different .br domain categories.
Domain categories are categorized into:
- Generics, such as com.br, net.br, ong.br, and others, make up about 94% of the records. In 2020, new extensions like .app.br and .dev.br were added to this category.
- Cities like rio.br, sampa.br, poa.br, and others make up less than 1% of the total. This classification was established in 2017, with the domain extensions being selected through a public vote.
- Legal entities such as org.br, ind.br, and inf.br, among others, account for 2.5%.
- Liberal professionals, such as lawyers, engineers, doctors, and more, make up 2% of the total.
- Blog.br, wiki.br, and similar platforms are utilized by a small portion of individuals, accounting for 0.3% of users.
- Universities with domains ending in edu.br and br have a 0.10% representation.
com.br is the most popular domain category, accounting for over 90% of registered .br domains. net.br and org.br follow closely behind with 1.8% and 1.2% respectively. The information is maintained by the NIC.br Registry department, which oversees the registration and upkeep of .br domains.
Why should you register a .br domain?
The popularity of .br remains high, despite the introduction of new TLDs, due to factors like its consistent pricing (R$40 annually) and the free service enabling redirection to external URLs.
This particular aspect is a significant advantage, particularly for individuals with a strong social media presence. Here, we provide instructions on setting up URL redirection in the Registry.
Registering a .br domain helps support different initiatives and projects for internet infrastructure development in Brazil, including operating traffic exchange points, organizing free training courses, promoting IPv6 usage, and conducting internet research.
Now that you have learned some history about .br, why not consider registering your domain using this Brazilian extension? Check out this comparison to find the best place to register your domain!
Publication date: 18/04/2019 (last updated on 05/05/2021)
Tags: Sign-up. Br.