Zimbabwe lead in piracy

The report also revealed that industry losses due to software piracy in Nigeria rose to US$132 million in 2008. In sub_Saharan Africa instance, according to BSA, the highest_piracy countries were Zimbabwe 92% Cameroon 83% and Nigeria 83%. Among the lowest_piracy countries were Reunion- 40%, Mauritius- 57% and Senegal-79%.

The sixth annual global PC software piracy study released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), an international association representing the global software industry covering 110 countries was conducted independently by IDC, the information technology (IT) industrys leading global market research and forecasting firm.
A recent study by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) also named Zimbabwe as one of seven countries with the highest rates of illegal software usage.
The other six countries are Georgia , Bangladesh , Armenia , Sri Landa, Azerbaijan and Moldova .

According to the report, Software piracy grew last year, accounting for 41 percent of all PC software installed, with losses to companies estimated at $53 billion,
A recent study by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has detailed the state of global software piracy, and has named Zimbabwe as one of seven countries with the highest rates of illegal software usage.
The other six countries are Georgia , Bangladesh , Armenia , Sri Landa, Azerbaijan and Moldova .
According to the report, Software piracy grew last year, accounting for 41 percent of all PC software installed, with losses to companies estimated at $53 billion,
Worldwide piracy rates rose from 38 percent of software in business and home computers in 2007 to 41 percent in 2008 despite successes in fighting piracy in China and Russia .
According to Robert Holleyman, president of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), piracy was lowest in the United States of America at about 20 percent of the total market, but that it was still a major problem because of the high volumes of software sold in the country.
Holleyman attributed growing piracy to small businesses that use unlicensed copies of popular software programs.
They might have 50 PCs but only pay for rights to run the software on 25 of those machines, said Holleyman.

Chinas piracy rate dropped from 90 percent of all software in 2004 to 80 percent last year, while Russias piracy rate dropped five percentage points in the past year to 68 percent, according to the study.
Worldwide, one out of every three copies of software in use today has been obtained illegally, said Holleyman. These losses have a profound economic impact in countries around the world. Every copy of software used without proper licensing costs tax revenue, jobs, and growth opportunities for burgeoning software markets.