Israel Low on List of Software Pirate Nations

A study by BSA, also known as The Software Alliance, indicates that 29 percent of the software used in Israel is pirated – placing Israel lower on the list of software pirates than much of the world. This lower figure is the result of a long campaign by the Alliance promoting the purchase and registration of software.

The amount of pirated software in use has been constantly falling in recent years. In 2013, 30 percent of the software used in Israel was pirated. In 2011 that figure was 31 percent, and in 2009 33 percent.

On average, 39 percent of the software used in the world is pirated. The amount of pirated software in Israel was similar to that of Europe, where the rate is 28 percent, but higher than in North America, where the rate is 17 percent. The “world champs” of pirated software are Zimbabwe and Libya, where the rate is 90 percent.

In China, the figure is 70 percent, but because of the size of the country and the number of computers in use, companies lose $8.6 billion in sales due to the use of pirated software there.

The total value of the pirated software in 2015 in Israel was $161 million.

The BSA (the acronym stands for Business Software Alliance) was established by Microsoft in 1988 as a trade organization to prevent software piracy. It is is a member of the International Intellectual Property Alliance.