BGP Global Statistics

The global BGP routing table — sometimes called the Default-Free Zone (DFZ) — contains every publicly routable IP prefix on the internet. As of 2024, it holds over 900,000 IPv4 prefixes and 200,000 IPv6 prefixes, growing steadily each year.

Key Metrics

• IPv4 Prefixes: The number of distinct CIDR blocks announced via BGP globally. Growth is driven by deaggregation and new allocations.
• IPv6 Prefixes: Growing faster than IPv4 as organizations deploy dual-stack networks and IPv4 exhaustion accelerates IPv6 adoption.
• Active ASNs: Unique Autonomous System Numbers actively originating or transiting BGP routes. Each ASN represents a distinct routing policy domain.
• Avg AS-PATH: Average number of ASN hops a packet traverses from origin to destination, reflecting internet topology depth.

Top Transit Providers

Tier-1 networks like Lumen (CenturyLink), NTT, Telia, and GTT form the backbone of the internet, providing transit to thousands of downstream ASNs. They peer with each other settlement-free and collectively carry a significant portion of global internet traffic.