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Covid-19 and Russia’s invasion in Ukraine have significantly affected not only the global economy, but also the domain industry.
The rapid rise in prices made local entrepreneurs less eager to start and grow their businesses online. In 2022, the total number of .LV domain names has increased by only 0.5%. This is a significant drop compared to 2021, when we experienced a 5.7% growth.
“Last year we also had to review our priorities. Our primary focus has always been stability, security, and resilience of .LV; however, 2022 added a whole different dimension to it.
Over the course of the year NIC.LV has, inter alia:
This year the .LV domain will celebrate its 30th anniversary! After regaining independence in 1991, it was only in 1993 that Latvia became independent also online with its own national top-level domain - .LV.
Congratulations and many thanks to each and every holder of .LV domain names for being with us and representing Latvia in the digital world!”
Katrina Sataki, CEO of the .LV registry NIC.LV
Geopolitical tensions have led to an increase in cyberattacks, making DNS security a hot topic among businesses. In 2022, the number of DNSSEC-secured .LV domain names has increased by 16%.
The .LV zone has been signed with DNSSEC for more than 10 years, i.e. since 2012. DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extension) is a domain name system security extension designed to protect Internet users from spoofing DNS data. DNSSEC provides authentication of DNS data and ensures that the content of a DNS response has not been altered. Read more about DNSSEC here.
As DNS attacks are one of the most common and effective cyberthreats, we expect DNS security to be a challenge and a priority for many companies in 2023. Therefore, we are pleased to see that the number of .LV Registrars offering DNSSEC support to their customers is increasing. Currently, 41 .LV registrars offer DNSSEC support.
As Latvian entrepreneurs adjust to high inflation and slow economic growth, our neighbouring countries are expanding trade in Latvia, with the help of websites powered by .LV domain names. A significant portion – 26% of all .LV domain names – are registered by foreign individuals or legal entities.
The number of .LV domain names registered by registrants from Latvia has decreased by 1.3% in 2022. For the first time in history the .LV registry observed such a downward trend.
Lithuanian entrepreneurs and residents are increasingly targeting Latvian consumers online and are managing 3% of all .LV domain names.
Technically, there are several limitations to creating a domain name, one of which is length. Domain names in .LV cannot be shorter than 2 or longer than 63 characters. While the most common length of .LV domain names is 7 characters, sometimes users choose to register a name that is more expressive, thus, longer.
Five longest traditional .LV domain names:
Five longest.LV domain names in Latvian (IDNs):
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The options for a contemporary entrepreneur to choose from are truly vast. Any creator of a new homepage can choose to register its name in one (or several) of the 1500 extensions or top-level domains. You can view a list of all available extensions - https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db.
We are glad to see that Latvian businessmen and residents are patriotic. The domain name extension market in Latvia is dominated by the local ccTLD.
Compared to previous years, interest in the national domain of Germany .de has increased significantly.
Since March 2004, NIC.LV has offered a possibility to register Latvian domain names – domain names that also contain characters with diacritical marks - ā, ē, ī, ū, ō, ķ, ļ, ņ, ŗ, ģ, š, č, ž.
By the end of 2022, 2518 Latvian domain names were registered, which is 18% less than in 2021.
“Internationalized domain names promote and help to strengthen linguistic and cultural diversity in cyberspace. The “internationalization” of domains allows the Internet to become truly global and accessible to users of different languages or alphabets,” emphasizes Dana Ludviga, representative of the .LV registry (NIC.LV).
.LV domain name can be registered by both legal and natural persons who have reached the age of 18. The total number of .LV domain name holders has increased by 1% in 2022. However, the average number of domain names registered per user has decreased to 1.6. The ratio between legal entities and individuals remains unchanged - almost 60% of domain names are registered by legal entities, while 40% - by individuals.
.LV registrars are collaboration partners of NIC.LV and can help you to register a .LV domain name of your choice as well as offer all the necessary support for your website, e-mail address, etc. You can check the list of our accredited .LV registrars here.
Altogether 165 registrars from 26 countries have signed cooperation agreements with the .LV registry NIC.LV and are managing a total of 53491 .LV domain names.