-- "The Dashboard" Report Shows Steady Rise in International Registrations

RESTON, Virginia, Feb. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Public Interest Registry – the not-for-profit operator of the .ORG domain – today released the results of its bi-annual domain name report, "The Dashboard," detailing the increased growth of .ORG throughout 2013. The report reveals that 206,542 new .ORG domains were registered from January to December 2013, bringing the total number of .ORG domains under registration (DUM) to more than 10,346,000 globally.

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Other findings outlined in "The Dashboard" include the following:

• The number of .ORG domains under registration (DUM) grew by 2.6 percent in 2013.
• When it comes to renewal, 85 percent of .ORG registrants renew their domains for at least three years or more.
• The organisational make-up of the global .ORG community remains diverse with the majority of registrants (20 percent) representing wiki and open source-related causes.
• Charities, schools, and recreational clubs and groups are all equally represented at 8 percent, respectively.

"The Dashboard" also highlights notable growth outside of North America, with nearly 40 percent of .ORG registrations stemming from overseas. For example, as Asia continues to be a core growth region for .ORG, China, Japan and India are all represented in the top 10 countries for .ORG registrations, and together comprise approximately 6 percent of the total .ORG market share. In fact, India alone has increased its .ORG registration market share by 50 percent between 2012 and 2013 and now boasts more than 159,700 .ORG domains. The United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, and France remain the top five international markets for .ORG registrants by country outside of the U.S. overall.

"Historically, .ORG has been the trusted home for nonprofits all over the world. While that credibility still resonates today, it's clear that the composition of users who carry out their passions, their ideas, and their missions on the .ORG domain is broadening," said Brian Cute, CEO of Public Interest Registry, "Now more than ever, we're seeing that .ORG is where action begins – for art and cultural institutions, clubs, sports teams, environmental and educational groups, as well as scientific, philosophic, and religious organisations. It is also the ideal domain to exercise social good or social entrepreneurship because .ORG is for businesses that think differently. As we charge ahead into 2014, we're optimistic that we will reach new heights in Public Interest Registry's pursuit to maintain .ORG as the trusted domain for individuals, businesses, and organisations worldwide, while also serving as a foundation for and complement to our soon-to-be-launched .NGO|.ONG domain offerings for global non-governmental organisations."

Within "The Dashboard," Public Interest Registry offers insight into its vision and preparations for the 2014 public unveiling of the .NGO and .ONG domains – in addition to four other internationalized domain names (IDNs) that translate into "organisation," "org" or "structured organisation" in Devanagari, Russian Cyrillic and Chinese-simplified scripts. Public Interest Registry's applications to create and manage the .NGO|.ONG domains and the new native IDNs were approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 2013.

For more information on "The Dashboard" or to download a copy, please visit http://pir.org/news.

About Public Interest Registry
Public Interest Registry is a nonprofit corporation that operates the .ORG top-level domain -- the world's third largest "generic" top-level domain with more than 10.3 million domain names registered worldwide. As an advocate for collaboration, safety and security on the Internet, Public Interest Registry's mission is to empower the global noncommercial community to use the Internet more effectively, and to take a leadership position among Internet stakeholders on policy and other issues relating to the domain naming system. Public Interest Registry was founded by the Internet Society ( http://www.internetsociety.org ) in 2002 and is based in Reston, Virginia, USA.

Contact:
Jamie Rismiller / Lindsay Hyman
202-223-9260
pir@allisonpr.com

SOURCE Public Interest Registry