China’s country code domain ‘.cn’ has become the world’s most commonly used in the internet with 16.36 million users, surpassing Germany’s ‘.de’ domain. According to the data released by the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC), which manages the domain, ‘.cn’ had 16.36 million users by the end of 2015.

The ‘.cn’ domain is also world leading in domain resolution service, security and the ratio of benign uses, said CNNIC head Li Xiaodong. As China began to require real—name registration in 2009, the ‘.cn’ domain is able to protect users’ interests and reduce online theft, phishing and fraud, Mr. Li said. In the past, Germany’s ‘.de’ domain had the largest number of registered websites.

The domain is not only widely used by Chinese institutions and companies but also by overseas institutions and multinationals. It is used by all central and provincial governments in China and most telecom companies besides commercial banks, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Multinationals including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Citibank are among those using it.

China has around 670 million internet users and over 4.13 million websites, according to the official data. ‘cn’ is managed through a branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information.