China's country-code domain ".cn" is the world's largest and most-commonly-used domain on the Internet, data released by China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) revealed on Friday. The ".cn" domain surpassed Germany's ".de", which once had the largest number of registered websites, the state media reported.

The ".cn" domain had 16.36 million users by the end of 2015, China's Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday. The ".cn" domain also led in domain resolution service, security and the ratio of benign uses, said CNNIC head Li Xiaodong told Xinhua.

China started real-name registrations in 2009, which helps the ".cn" domain protect users from online theft, phishing and fraud, Xiaodong added.

China's ".cn" domain is managed by the CNNIC, which provides round-the-clock services for domain name registration and resolution. The ".cn" domain is widely used in China by different organisations, including the central and provincial governments, commercial banks and telecom companies. International companies can also register ".cn" domains.

Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Citibank are a few multinational companies that own ".cn" domain, Xinhua reported.

According to CNNIC data, China has 670 million Internet users and 413 million websites.

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