What Is a ccTLD? Country Code Domains Explained, with a List of Examples

Applies to: country code domains; counts from the IANA Root Zone Database and TLD list version 2026092900, registry details checked with whois 5.6.3 against whois.iana.org

A ccTLD (country code top-level domain) is a two-letter domain extension that belongs to a country or territory, such as .in for India, .uk for the United Kingdom or .de for Germany. At the time of writing, IANA lists 248 two-letter ccTLDs in use, plus 61 country codes in local scripts, such as .भारत for India, out of 1,438 top-level domains in total.

How the codes are chosen

According to IANA, a ccTLD normally comes from the two-letter country codes in the ISO 3166-1 standard. There are a few exceptions:

• .uk was delegated in the 1980s, although the ISO code for the United Kingdom is GB. IANA’s database lists .gb with “Reserved Domain - IANA” as its manager.
• .eu is for the European Union, a code ISO lists as “exceptionally reserved”. It is run by EURid in Belgium.
• .ac (Ascension Island) is kept under older rules.

Seven codes in the database are marked “Not assigned” and are not in use: .an, .bl, .bq, .eh, .mf, .tp and .um.

List of common ccTLDs

Each ccTLD has its own registry, listed here as whois.iana.org reports it.

Asia and the Middle East

• .in India (National Internet Exchange of India)
• .sg Singapore (SGNIC)
• .jp Japan (Japan Registry Services)
• .cn China (CNNIC)
• .ae United Arab Emirates (TDRA)
• .sa Saudi Arabia (Communications, Space and Technology Commission)

Europe

• .uk United Kingdom (Nominet UK)
• .de Germany (DENIC)
• .fr France (AFNIC)
• .nl Netherlands (SIDN)
• .ie Ireland, .es Spain, .it Italy, .ch Switzerland, .se Sweden
• .eu European Union (EURid)

Americas

• .us United States, .ca Canada (CIRA), .br Brazil, .co Colombia

Africa and Oceania

• .za South Africa, .ng Nigeria, .ke Kenya
• .au Australia (auDA), .nz New Zealand (InternetNZ)

For the full list, open the IANA Root Zone Database and look for the type “country-code”.

ccTLDs used like generic domains

Some ccTLDs are popular far outside their country because the letters mean something else: .io (British Indian Ocean Territory), .ai (Anguilla), .co (Colombia), .tv (Tuvalu) and .me (Montenegro). Google says it treats these ccTLDs as generic, so they don’t tie a site to one country in search: .ad, .ai, .as, .bz, .cc, .cd, .co, .dj, .fm, .io, .la, .me, .ms, .nu, .sc, .sr, .su, .tv, .tk and .ws. Other ccTLDs, in Google’s words, give “a strong signal” that a site is meant for that country.

Internationalised ccTLDs

The 61 ccTLDs in local scripts work like the two-letter ones. India has the most: 15, one for each of several Indian scripts, including .भारत (Devanagari), .ഭാരതം (Malayalam) and .இந்தியா (Tamil), all run by the National Internet Exchange of India.

Who can register a ccTLD

Every registry sets its own rules. Some ccTLDs are open to anyone; others need a local connection. Two examples from the registries themselves:

• .eu: citizens of EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway (wherever they live), residents of those countries, and businesses or organisations established there (EURid).
• .au: you need an “Australian presence”, for example as a citizen, permanent resident, Australian business or holder of an Australian trade mark (auDA).

Many ccTLDs also offer second-level names under the country code, such as .co.uk or .com.au. Read the registry’s rules before you register, because each registry checks them itself.

Look up a ccTLD’s registry

$ whois -h whois.iana.org in
domain:       IN
organisation: National Internet Exchange of India
address:      ...
address:      India
...
whois:        whois.nixiregistry.in
status:       ACTIVE
created:      1989-05-08

The whois: line is the registry’s own WHOIS server, which you can then ask about a domain. More in the whois command.

Choosing between a ccTLD, .com and newer extensions: what a TLD is and how to choose one. To check whether a name is free, use our domain search.

Official documentation: IANA: qualifying top-level domain strings and Google: managing multi-regional sites.