Pakistan has the second-highest software piracy rate in Asia Pacific

A new report on software piracy rates around the globe has found out that almost 84 percent of all software installed in Pakistan in 2015 was unlicensed, the second highest piracy rates around Asia Pacific.

The global piracy average was reported to be around 39 percent, totaling up to 52 billion dollars in software costs but that was nothing compared to the unbelievably high piracy rates in Asia.

According to the report, 61% of all software installed in 2015 in the Asian-Pacific region was unlicensed. Bangladesh was the biggest culprit with a piracy rate of 86%, followed closely by Pakistan and Indonesia at 84% each. On the other hand, India fairs much better with a 58% rate of unlicensed software installation.

The United States continues to be on top with just a 17 percent rate of piracy but even that small portion cost over 9 billion dollars in commercial value.

Software Piracy in Pakistan

With 84% of all software being unlicensed, the cost in Pakistan alone amounted to a mind-boggling $276 million. The figure is indeed terrifying but there is some progress compared to the piracy figures from 2013 (85%) and 2011 (86%).

The report titled “Seizing Opportunity Through License Compliance” is compiled by The Software Alliance, a trade group formed by Microsoft comprising of top software companies around the globe. It conducts surveys after a one year gap and the report itself is compiled from a survey of 22,000 computer users and 2,000 information technology decision-makers and includes business, operating system, gaming and security software.

Image Source- SMH