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Crime > Software piracy rate: Countries Compared

Luke Metcalfe, Founder, NationMaster

Author: Luke Metcalfe, Founder, NationMaster

The Software Piracy Rate reports the proportion of installed software that is pirated. It takes into account both commercial and open-source programs.

Piracy, and intellectual property in general, is a contentious issue between developed states and the rest of the world. Developed states are net producers of software and emerging economies have lax policing as well as minimal financial incentive for compliance. Among frequent pirates, emerging markets pirate 4 times as much as mature markets.

This represents a large missed opportunity for software publishers as emerging markets represent 56% the world's new PC shipments.

Findings from the <a href="http://globalstudy.bsa.org/2011/downloads/study_pdf/2011_BSA_Piracy_Study-Standard.pdf">2011 Software Alliance report</a>:
1. The overrall worldwide piracy rate was 42%.
2. Software piracy is particularly common among young males.

Note: this data is from a survey. The actual incidence of privacy may be higher, particularly in jurisdictions where penalties for piracy are enforced.
DEFINITION: The piracy rate is the total number of units of pirated software deployed in 2007 divided by the total units of software installed.

CONTENTS

# COUNTRY AMOUNT DATE GRAPH
1 Armenia 93% 2007
=2 Bangladesh 92% 2007
=2 Moldova 92% 2007
=2 Azerbaijan 92% 2007
5 Zimbabwe 91% 2007
6 Sri Lanka 90% 2007
7 Yemen 89% 2007
8 Libya 88% 2007
9 Venezuela 87% 2007
=10 Vietnam 85% 2007
=10 Iraq 85% 2007
=12 Cameroon 84% 2007
=12 Indonesia 84% 2007
=12 Pakistan 84% 2007
=12 Algeria 84% 2007
16 Ukraine 83% 2007
=17 Nigeria 82% 2007
=17 Paraguay 82% 2007
=17 Botswana 82% 2007
=17 Bolivia 82% 2007
=17 China 82% 2007
=17 Zambia 82% 2007
=23 El Salvador 81% 2007
=23 Kenya 81% 2007
=23 Cote d'Ivoire 81% 2007
=26 Senegal 80% 2007
=26 Guatemala 80% 2007
=26 Nicaragua 80% 2007
=29 Dominican Republic 79% 2007
=29 Kazakhstan 79% 2007
=31 Thailand 78% 2007
=31 Albania 78% 2007
=33 Serbia and Montenegro 76% 2007
=33 Tunisia 76% 2007
=35 Panama 74% 2007
=35 Argentina 74% 2007
=35 Honduras 74% 2007
=38 Lebanon 73% 2007
=38 Russia 73% 2007
Former Spanish colonies average (profile) 73% 2007
40 Peru 71% 2007
OPEC countries average (profile) 69.78% 2007
=41 Philippines 69% 2007
=41 India 69% 2007
=41 Uruguay 69% 2007
=44 Bosnia and Herzegovina 68% 2007
=44 Bulgaria 68% 2007
=44 Romania 68% 2007
47 Morocco 67% 2007
Emerging markets average (profile) 66.16% 2007
=48 Ecuador 66% 2007
=48 Chile 66% 2007
50 Turkey 65% 2007
Middle Eastern and North Africa average (profile) 64.62% 2007
51 Kuwait 62% 2007
=52 Costa Rica 61% 2007
=52 Mexico 61% 2007
=52 Oman 61% 2007
=55 Jordan 60% 2007
=55 Egypt 60% 2007
=57 Malaysia 59% 2007
=57 Brazil 59% 2007
=59 Colombia 58% 2007
=59 Greece 58% 2007
=61 Bahrain 57% 2007
=61 Mauritius 57% 2007
=61 Poland 57% 2007
=64 Lithuania 56% 2007
=64 Latvia 56% 2007
=66 Qatar 54% 2007
=66 Croatia 54% 2007
=68 Hong Kong 51% 2007
=68 Estonia 51% 2007
=68 Saudi Arabia 51% 2007
71 Cyprus 50% 2007
72 Italy 49% 2007
=73 Slovenia 48% 2007
=73 Iceland 48% 2007
Non-religious countries average (profile) 47.54% 2007
75 Malta 46% 2007
NATO countries average (profile) 45.33% 2007
76 Slovakia 45% 2007
77 Puerto Rico 44% 2007
=78 South Korea 43% 2007
=78 Portugal 43% 2007
=78 Spain 43% 2007
=81 France 42% 2007
=81 Hungary 42% 2007
European Union average (profile) 42% 2007
=83 Taiwan 40% 2007
=83 Reunion 40% 2007
Eurozone average (profile) 39.78% 2007
85 Czech Republic 39% 2007
86 Singapore 37% 2007
High income OECD countries average (profile) 35.65% 2007
87 United Arab Emirates 35% 2007
=88 Ireland 34% 2007
=88 South Africa 34% 2007
90 Canada 33% 2007
91 Israel 32% 2007
Group of 7 countries (G7) average (profile) 31.43% 2007
92 Norway 29% 2007
=93 Netherlands 28% 2007
=93 Australia 28% 2007
95 Germany 27% 2007
96 United Kingdom 26% 2007
=97 Finland 25% 2007
=97 Denmark 25% 2007
=97 Sweden 25% 2007
=97 Austria 25% 2007
=97 Belgium 25% 2007
=97 Switzerland 25% 2007
103 Japan 23% 2007
104 New Zealand 22% 2007
105 Luxembourg 21% 2007
106 United States 20% 2007

Citation

Crime > Software piracy rate: Countries Compared Map

NationMaster

Interesting observations about Crime > Software piracy rate

0

Factors that can contribute to differences in software piracy include: software prices relative to income, the strength of intellectual property protection and cultural attitudes. The countries with the lower piracy rates also tend to be strong producers of intellectual property, and vice versa.
<p>
There is a strong push by developed nations (who are strong producers of intellectual property) to force developing nations to improve their enforcement of intellectual property rights, despite the fact that they themselves were slow to adopt strong protection of intellectual property during their own development phase. US industry has estimated it loses between US$200-250 billion annually due to copyright infringement around the world, and the <a href=http://themindtrap.typepad.com/mindtrap/2005/04/dont_look_at_th.html>Bush Administration has listed 14 countries</a> which need to improve protection of intellectual property or face US trade sanctions -- the countries are Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Turkey and Venezuela. Israel stands out on this list by having a software piracy rate of only 35%, the same as Canada and slightly more than half the software piracy rate of Brazil, with the next lowest software piracy rate at 61%.
<p>
However, developing countries claim they need access to knowledge, and developed countries will need to yield some ground to make it worthwhile for developing nations to increase protection of intellectual property. During <a href=http://themindtrap.typepad.com/mindtrap/2005/04/the_intellectua.html>discussions held by the World Intellectual Property Organization on this topic</a>, India's representatives said "For developing countries to benefit from providing IP protection to rights holders based in developed countries, there has to be some obligation on the part of developed countries to transfer and disseminate technologies to developing countries."

Posted on 01 May 2005

James,, Staff Editor

James,, Staff Editor

0

The Software Piracy Rate reports the proportion of installed software that is pirated. It takes into account both commercial and open-source programs.

Piracy, and intellectual property in general, is a contentious issue between developed states and the rest of the world. Developed states are net producers of software and emerging economies have lax policing as well as minimal financial incentive for compliance. Among frequent pirates, emerging markets pirate 4 times as much as mature markets.

This represents a large missed opportunity for software publishers as emerging markets represent 56% the world's new PC shipments.

Findings from the <a href="http://globalstudy.bsa.org/2011/downloads/study_pdf/2011_BSA_Piracy_Study-Standard.pdf">2011 Software Alliance report</a>:
1. The overrall worldwide piracy rate was 42%.
2. Software piracy is particularly common among young males.

Note: this data is from a survey. The actual incidence of privacy may be higher, particularly in jurisdictions where penalties for piracy are enforced.

Posted on 10 Dec 2013

Luke Metcalfe, Founder, NationMaster

Luke Metcalfe, Founder, NationMaster

0

Don't forget the average income of the people of the countries at the top of the list...

You can't expect people with like 200 usd or less monthly income to pay 60 usd for a game or thousands for the adobe suits.

One of the solutions to decrease piracy would be making the prices of software proportional to the average salary's of each country:

It's better sell a game for 6 usd in a country where people make 1/10 of the us salary than nothing.

Posted on 16 Feb 2013

Ruben

Ruben

0

The MAIN reason that there is even software piracy is because the big commercial software companies do "everything" within their powers to TOTALLY SUPPRESS the dissemination of information about ALL the FREE software available that does almost the same tasks as their high costing commercial software:

For Example: http://drbray.blogspot.com/2011/10/necessary-freeware.html

If sites like this were disseminated all around the world and translated into many languages, then one would see the piracy of software DECREASE by a huge factor!

Posted on 07 Jun 2012

ewbray

ewbray

0

Man, alot of you guys don't seem to understand this information. It's the proportion of software being used which is pirated. Nothing to do with any movies, music, ebooks, etc.

20% of software in the USA being pirate copies, is a projected loss of $8,040,000,000. 93% of software in Armenia being pirate copies is a projected loss of only $8,000,000. The countries at the top have far less people who actually use software, and like a few have mentioned, not such strict copyright laws.

Posted on 26 Jan 2012

Bevan

Bevan

0

Nigerians, Indians and Chinese in Botswana are the ones pirating, they own internet cafes and sell pirated software. Batswana are not good when it comes to technology.

Posted on 23 Sep 2011

Tansiri

Tansiri

0

I support pirates because i feel that there is no other way to get rid of monopoly. If there would be no piray believe me you you will end up paying your loan emi for years. Also, forget about development of human being because it always depend upon source of knowledge.

Posted on 24 Jul 2011

Shobhitkv

Shobhitkv

0

If mega companies don't want their stuff jak'd then why don't they just make their software completely untouchable without the money first I mean seriously it doesn't make any sense. I put a lock on my door maybe they should to.

Posted on 29 Apr 2011

That Guy

That Guy

0

America is last because we are just about the only country that doesn't use Piracy as a common source of income combined with lack of laws against it. In China almost exact copies of media are sold openly on the street for a tenth of what we pay for them in America. Same thing in Mexico but are clearly just copies. If we did this in the USA, we would almost immediately be prosecuted for it. Also American companies make most media in the world and its just too hard to file suit internationally so there's less to fear doing it in other countries.

Posted on 13 Feb 2011

Caveman

Caveman

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The whole reason why stats like these are being made, is for all the companies that make software, to keep high prices or even increase them, as a false reimbursement for all the piracy that happens to them.

Posted on 03 Jan 2011

Thomas

Thomas

0

100% of softwares in Iran is pirated, everyone is using windows 7 ultimate , adobe CS5 series, office 2010, SQL Server 2008, VS2010 Ultimate and so on . . . .

Posted on 29 Sep 2010

Saeed

Saeed

0

I live in South Africa and we have the higher rate of piracy rate in our schools. 90% of our schools use pirated copies of MS Windows. 2% of schools use open source software such as Linux, Free BSD etc. But i doubt America is at the bottom...i strongly doubt and lightly disagree.

unloca.co.za

Posted on 23 Sep 2010

Lulameke Mabunda

Lulameke Mabunda

0

Bangladesh is joint second. Congratulations!!

Posted on 03 Jun 2010

Bangladeshi

Bangladeshi

0

The only way to track these stats is to become the file sharing industry and slowly make it profitable. Why do you think it is still so easy to download and use file sharing programs?- Someone wants you to. they are simply using the medium to mold a new business model.

Posted on 30 Nov 2009

How

How

0

How are they supposed to get these numbers? Do people just call in and say that they pirated software. BULL! Nobody is going to admit it. These people would have to go to every computer in the world and check every piece of software as it is installed. I am not saying that piracy does not happen. I'm saying that there is no way for them to know how much it happens.

Posted on 18 Oct 2009

Mike

Mike

0

It's not that software companies leave themselves open, it's quite the opposite. It's the fact that someone is bound to inevitably come along and bypass the 'protection' the company implemented.

Software companies do not want to hassle their customers with ultra tight security. Otherwise they would lose business. So they try to compromise by implementing things such as SecuRom and product keys and what not. But unfortunately, someone, for some reason unbeknownst to me, decides to bypass it and shares it with everyone. Probably so he or she can get a moment of fame.

Posted on 15 Oct 2009

Guy

Guy

0

GROUPAMA (a large French insurer) was caught in a $200m PIRACY case where it used "bank secrecy" to ask Police not to investigate its computers...

The fun part of the story is that the (Paris) General Prosecuter found no infraction in this (illegal) agreement!

See the whole story on:

http://remoteanything.com/archives/groupama.pdf

Posted on 19 Oct 2009

Pi

Pi

0

Im researching software piracy for a college course and can not figure out why a company would leave themselves open for their software to be stolen in the first place. Sure we think just because we can find the software on the computer its okay to down load it (No one will Know) but where has our concious gone don't we as humans know right from wrong stealing is stealing.

Posted on 20 Aug 2009

Darci

Darci

0

I totally agree with Sam (10th June, 2009). Downloading software is probably the most common and easiest way to pirate. And where do people download from? Rapidshare, easy upload, mega upload and the likes. And where are the servers of these sites located?

You guessed right.

Posted on 24 Jul 2009

Akin

Akin

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