According to the fourth annual global software piracy study conducted by the Business Software Alliance BSA (an international association comprising of some of the world’s leading software developers) and IDC (an information technology global market research and forecasting firm), the Middle East and Africa region saw an increase in the average piracy rate in 2006 by three percentage points to an average of 60 percent, while the global piracy rate remained stable at 35 percent.
The increase in the average is mainly due to the twenty-two countries in the Middle East and Africa region with piracy rates above last year’s regional rate (57%). These countries grew faster than the remaining countries in the region, and this consequently increased the regional average. Notably, the UAE maintained the lowest piracy rate average of 35% among the Arab countries. Also, there was a decline in the piracy rate in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, and Tunisia, while the piracy levels in Bahrain, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern and African countries remained relatively stable.
Software Piracy Rates
in Major Middle Eastern and African Countries
(as reported by the BSA-IDC study)
|
|
2006 |
2005 |
2004 |
2003 |
|
Algeria |
84% |
83% |
83% |
84% |
|
Bahrain |
60% |
60% |
62% |
64% |
|
Cyprus |
52% |
52% |
53% |
55% |
|
Egypt |
63% |
64% |
65% |
69% |
|
Jordan |
61% |
63% |
64% |
65% |
|
Kuwait |
64% |
66% |
68% |
68% |
|
Lebanon |
73% |
73% |
75% |
74% |
|
Morocco |
66% |
68% |
72% |
73% |
|
Oman |
62% |
63% |
64% |
65% |
|
Qatar |
58% |
60% |
62% |
63% |
|
Saudi Arabia |
52% |
52% |
52% |
54% |
|
Tunisia |
79% |
81% |
84% |
82% |
|
Turkey |
64% |
65% |
66% |
66% |
|
UAE |
35% |
34% |
34% |
34% |
|
REGIONAL AVERAGE |
60% |
57% |
58% |
56% |
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