ICANN publishes 2026 report on IDNs and Universal Acceptance
ICANN’s latest report records the expansion of Internationalized Domain Names while highlighting continued work to make domain names and email addresses work across languages and scripts.
The number of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) and efforts to make them usable across Internet systems continue to expand, according to a new report from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The IDN Implementation and UA Adoption Report 2026 reviews developments in both areas and the work needed to support a more multilingual internet.
As of June 2026, 151 IDN top-level domains had been delegated, covering 37 languages and 23 scripts. Around 4.3 million IDNs had also been registered at the second level. These domain names allow users to access Internet addresses using scripts and languages other than the Latin-based formats traditionally dominant in the Domain Name System.
The report notes, however, that having domain names available in different scripts does not by itself ensure that users can use them throughout the Internet. Universal Acceptance (UA) requires applications, devices and online systems to correctly accept, process, store and display valid domain names and email addresses, regardless of their language, script or character length.
ICANN reports continued progress towards UA adoption, with activities increasingly focused on practical implementation. UA Day 2026 brought together 5,851 participants through 33 events in 30 countries and territories, using 15 languages. The events included technical demonstrations, academic activities and discussions on national and regional approaches to UA adoption.
The report also covers work on IDN policy and implementation, including Label Generation Rules and IDN Implementation Guidelines. These activities are relevant to the continued development of the Domain Name System and to preparations for the 2026 round of the New Generic Top-Level Domains Program.
ICANN describes UA as a shared technical responsibility involving software and application providers, developers, registries and registrars, email and hosting providers, academia, governments and other stakeholders. Progress therefore depends not only on the availability of multilingual domain names, but also on whether the systems used to access the internet are able to handle them correctly.
The report presents these developments as part of the broader effort to reduce technical barriers to using the Internet in different languages and scripts. It also reflects a shift in UA work towards implementation, with recent initiatives focusing increasingly on testing and making existing systems UA-ready rather than only raising awareness.
