EUROPE - Overview #2

Map, statistics and domain rules for 53 countries.

[rencke]

Europe Countries and autonomous regions: 53 Click here for country fact sheets Population: 802,3 million incl. Asian parts of Russia and Turkey Online population: 121,1 million = 15% (1Q 2001) Online population growth: 25 -75% per year Native languages: 40 different + major dialects Understanding of English: 28% of all (225 mill), 32% of surfers (39 mill). Hosts: 13 million (Apr 2001) Pages in national domains: 141,5 million (Apr 2001) 25+ mill in other domains. No. of general search engines: 127 No. of national directories: 195 Links to countries lead to the individual discussions here at WebmasterWorld, where facts on each search engine can be found.

	Population					No of pages in:			Presence
Country domain	Total (mill)	Online (mill)	%	Hosts (000)	Languages	main language (mill)	local domain (mill)	language in .com (%)	required for domain
Albania al	3,5	0,003	0,1%	0,2	Tosk, Greek	0,02	0,003	5%	Yes
Andorra ad	0,1	0,005	7,5%	1,6	Catalan, French, Castilian	?	0,01		No
Austria at	8,1	3.00	36,9%	523,3	German	37,48	3,56		No
Belgium be	10,2	2.70	26,4%	315,4	Dutch, French, German	-	2,26		No
Belarus by	10,4	0,1	1,0%	2,8	Byelorussian, Russian	0,01	0,26	55%	Yes
Bosnia ba	3,8	0,004	0,1%	2,7	Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian	0,45	0,36		?
Bulgaria bg	7,8	0,2	2,6%	20,3	Bulgarian, Turkish	0,15	0,24	7%	No
Croatia hr	4,3	0,26	6,0%	18,0	Croatian	0,45	0,44	20%	Yes
Cyprus cy	0,8	0,08	10,6%	7,4	Greek, Turkish, English	-	0,05		?
Czech Rep cz	10,3	2,0	19,4%	161,3	Czech	3,18	4,5	2%	No
Denmark dk	5,3	2,58	48,4%	334,0	Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic, German	2,59	4,05	5%	No
Estonia ee	1,4	0,31	21,6%	41,0	Estonian, Russian, Ukrainian, English, Finnish	0,48	0,80	2%	No
Faroe Islands fo	0,05	0,003	6,6%	1,3	Faroese, Danish	0,01	0,02	8%	Yes
Finland fi	5,2	2,27	43,9%	699,2	Finnish 94%, Swedish 6%	2,50	3,31	8%	Yes
France fr	59,3	9,00	15,3%	1161,0	French	18,72	7,13	36%	Yes
Germany de Search engines Directories	82,8	20,10	24,3%	2236,2	German	37,48	37,6	8%	Yes
Gibraltar gi	0,03	-	-	1,4	English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian	-	0,007		?
Greece gr	10,6	1,33	12,4%	133,5	Greek, English, French	0,60	1,07	8%	Yes
Greenland gl	0.06			2,5	Greenlandic, Danish, English	-	0,002		Yes
Guernsey gg	0,06	-	-	1,6	English, French	-	0,004		?
Hungary hu	10,1	1,0	9,9%	115,7	Hungarian	1,36	1,96	4%	Yes
Iceland is	0,28	0,17	60,0%	39,2	Icelandic	0,22	0,37	3%	Yes
Isle of Man im	0,07	-	-	?	English, Manx	-	0,002		No
Ireland - ie	3,8	1,04	27,8%	121,5	English, Irish (Gaelic)	-	0,81		Yes
Italy it	57,6	13,4	23,3%	949,1	Italian, German, French, Slovene	9,78	8,74	21%	Yes
Jersey je	0,064	-	-	1,7	English, French	-	0,005		?
Latvia lv	2,4	0,23	9,7%	20,8	Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian	0,01	0,33	10%	?
Lichtenstein li	0,03	-	-	0,004	German	-	0,006		No
Lithuania lt	3,6	0,32	8,9%	26,6	Lithuanian, Polish, Russian	0,15	0,33	3%	Yes
Luxemburg lu	0,4	0,1	21,7%	11,6	Luxembourgian, German, French, English	-	0,17		Yes
FYR Macedonia mk	2,0	0,03	1,5%	1,4	Macedonian (70%), Albanian (21%)	-	0,07		?
Malta mt	0,4	0,04	10,2%	0,00	Maltese, English	n.a.	0,06		No
Moldova md	4,4	0,02	0,3%	1,7	Moldovan, Russian, Gagauz	-	0,07		No
Monaco mc	0,03	-	-	0,4	French, English, Italian, Monegasque	-	0,01		Yes
Netherlands nl	15,9	7,28	45,8%	1810,3	Dutch	6,29	6,73	12%	Yes
Norway no	4,5	2,34	55,7%	452,1	Norwegian	2,4	2,84	10%	Yes
Poland pl	38,6	2,80	7,3%	367,6	Polish	3,31	4,57	4%	No*
Portugal pt	10,0	2,2	22,0%	156,8	Portuguese	8,73	1,30	11%	Yes
Romania ro	22,4	0,6	2,7%	41,4	Romanian, Hungarian, German	0,22	0,51	9%	Yes
Russia ru, su	146,0	9,20	6,3%	71,7	Russian	11,72	13,29	6%	No*
San Marino sm	0,03	?	-	0,001	Italian	-	0,007		No
Slovakia sk	5,4	0,7	12,9%	40,8	Slovak, Hungarian	0,70	0,95	3%	Yes
Slovenia si	1,9	0,46	23,0%	26,2	Slovenian (91%), Serbo-Croatian	0,37	0,44	14%	Yes
Spain es	40,0	5,40	13,7%	450,2	Castilian Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Basque	15,94	3,80	40%	Yes
Sweden se	8,9	50	56,4%	561,9	Swedish, Finnish, Samic	4,79	4,62	28%*	Yes
Switzerland ch	7,3	2,40	33,1%	262,5	German (64%), French, Italian, Romansch	-	5,25		No
Turkey tr	65,7	3,70	5,6%	89,7	Turkish, Kurdish, Araic, Armenian, Greek	1,07	0,97	36%	No
Ukraine ua	49,1	0,2	0,4%	39,3	Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian	0,29	0,95	10%	Yes
United Kingdom uk	57,2	19.98	33,6%	1677,9	English, Welsh, Gaelic	338,42	16,37		No
Vatican State va	0,001	-	-	0,000	Italian, Latin, others	-	0,015		Yes
Yugoslavia yu	20,6	0,08	0,0%	13,8	Serbo-Croatian, Albanian	0,45	0,29	38%	Yes

Comments & map.

Country: This list comprises 51 of the 53 European nations and autonomous regions. The exceptions are Svalbard/Jan Mayen (.sj) where Ripe lists no host and Åland, which operates under the .fi domain. The traditional definition of Europe is used, so that countries east of the Boshporous are counted as Asian, unless any part of them is in Europe. For this reason, Turkey and Russia are counted as European nations but not Georgia, Israel and other countries in Central Asia and the Middle East. At WebmasterWorld, these countries and many more are covered in the Asian forum. Population: Figures from CIA - see link to fact sheets above. Online population: Figures from a variety of sources and based on different definitions of what consitutes an online population. The oldest are from 1999, the most recent from March 2001. The total of 121,1 million should be seen as a low estimate. Hosts: Net figures for each domain from the Ripe host count March 2001. Note that in some countries domains other than the national are very popular. For example, a recent government report shows that only about 40% of all Swedish hosts are in fact in the se-domain. The rest are either in the .com or .nu domains. Languages: Based on info from CIA with additions by WmW members. Pages in main language: Based on searches in the database of Fast Search mid-April 2001. Note that language figures for Spain and Portugal include Latin American countries and that pages in French include the French part of Canada and a number of former French colonies around the world. Pages in domain: Based on searches in the database of Fast Search mid-April 2001. See remark on hosts in other domains than the national. Generally, the com-domain is very popular in Europe and represents a sizeable minority of national sites. Pages in local langage in the .com domain: Based on searches in the database of Fast Search mid-April 2001. Note that in some countries there is a very high proportion of dot-coms for the local language. The figures for French (36%) and Spanish (40%) can be explained by the fact that the languages are widely spoken in other countries where dot-coms are popular such as Canada, Mexico, Argentina and Chile. But the figures for Italian (21%), Swedish (28%, of which 21% dot-com and 7% dot-nu) and Turkish (36%) reflect a genuine preference for other domains than the national - possibly caused by bureaucratic rules for local domain registrations. Note that search engines in countries with a high percentage of dot-coms cannot discriminate against dot-coms in the national language. Note also that many European sites are multilingual. There is likely substantial numbers of pages in major languages other than the local in all of the national domains. This has not been measured here. Local presence required for domain registration: Most countries in Europe require legal presence for national domain registrations. There are a few useful exceptions: Austria and Switzerland constitute back doors into German search engines and directories, where they are usually treated in the same way as .de sites. Belgium will work the same way for French engines, which often feature "Web francophone"- i.e. the French speaking part of the web - as the default search and in a similar manner also for Dutch engines. *) Poland requires only a local contact, but some engines want to see a Polish server, so hosting in Poland is a good idea for Polish content. Russia does not require local presence for the .co.ru domain.

Comments, corrections or questions? Just hit the reply button below!

[backus]

You don't need to be present in the Czech Republic to gain a domain name.

[Rumbas]

you don't need to be present to get a danish (dk) domain either.

[rencke]

Both changed accordingly. (Used the site of reputable US domain registrar for this, but I guess they got it wrong.) Also added snazzy Europe map.

[Rumbas]

This page sould be the default starting page of everyone interested in the European internet penetration and marketing possibillities.

Rencke, It's awsome!

:)

[NFFC]

Ofattbar arbetar rencke, tack så mycket!

[backus]

Recent Czech census stated that the online population was around 2 million, but that is for people who use the internet at school and work etc.

[rencke]

Good info, backus. The figure we had for Czech Republic were quite old and I was unable to find anything newer when I did the research. Access through home + work is the usual definition, so I will update the Czech discussion with your figure and correct the chart above as soon as I have more from other countries. It is coming in by and by this week. This would put Internet usage to just under 20% for your country, which seems reasonable. Any decimals to the 2 million?

[backus]

No, can't be more precise I'm afraid. The full stats from the census will be coming soon. It is unfortunate that people from the west think so low of the Czech Republic. When I lived in England, and said I was moving to CZ, they asked if I was not afraid of being shot? Or, won't I have to que from bread? I think they forget that a lot of people drive Mercedes and BMWs, and that most people nowadays here, have a PC at home, and if they have a PC then they connect to the internet. Unfortunately, the census will not be accurate because most people (including I) lied about home electronics. There are worries, and serious ones, that the info will be misused. I completely agree. The people collecting the info are just normal everyday people off the street, how can you trust them? But one thing is for sure, maybe people don't earn that much here, but the Czechs know how to save and spend money; they generally aren't poor people. No bread ques, no street wars, and generally good I-net connections.

[rencke]

Cheer up, backus. With 20% of the population online and the streets filled with Mercedes and BMW's - not to mention a EU membership around the corner - you will soon be attracting the attention of Jupiter/MMXI and Nielsen/NetRatings and then there will be reliable statistics.

I have updated the Czech discussion with the new figures.

[rencke]

Update:

The German online population continues to increase. 40% of all Germans over the age of 14 now have access to the web (26 million).

In Spain, the online population has nearly doubled during the past year and has now reached over 20% (8 million) according to a recent study.

[backus]

Okay, here we go...the Slovak population is most definately not more online than Czech, that I can gaurantee. The last census was incorrect with most people lying about what they had at home. According to Czech OnLine, their count of people connecting from home is 1.2 million. With use at work and school, combined with home, it puts them up to around 4 million. Don't forget that Slovakia is not as financially stable as the Czech Republic. This country is the most likely to join the EU out of all the Eastern European states, whereas Slovakia does not qualify. I think a lot of people associate the Czech Republic with Yugoslavia, when that shouldn't be the case. Don't forget that over 80% of the population are under 60 here in CZ, a lot of whom are educated and have decent jobs where the internet is readily available. A lot of people have accounts in E-Bank, which was the first Czech Internet bank, formed back in 1997. Now nearly all banks are online. Most people use the internet to order pizza! That's how powerful the internet is here, it is very important. Don't forget, it was a Czech that first hacked and made a mockery of 128-bit encryption!