Rapid growth of the Personal Computer Industry has resulted in the growth of unlicenced software. Sri Lanka has been placed second following Bangladesh which is leading with 92 per cent according to the annual survey conducted by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), LBO reported.

AFP said that piracy has resulted in legal software vendors losing US $ 15.26 billion in 2008, up from US $ 14.09 the previous year.

Sri Lanka holds second place with 90 percent followed by Pakistan at 86 percent. Japan has the lowest rate at 21 percent followed by New Zealand at 22 percent and Australia at 26 percent, BSA Vice President Jeffrey Hardee said.

Software piracy in the Asia-Pacific region continued to grow last year with Sri Lanka the second worst offender, a study said Tuesday, AFP news agency reported.

The piracy was driven by the rapid growth in computer sales and the availability of bootleg programmes online.

AFP said the annual survey by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and industry research firm IDC showed that in 2008, an average of 61 percent of the region’s software were unlicensed.

The figure was up from 59 percent the previous year.

The news agency quoted the BSA study as saying that Bangladesh was the biggest culprit in the region last year with a piracy rate of 92 percent.

Sri Lanka came a close second at 90 percent and Pakistan third at 86 percent, the study showed, AFP said.

Japan had the lowest rate, at 21 percent, followed by New Zealand at 22 percent and Australia at 26 percent.

In China, the average piracy rate dropped to 80 percent last year from 82 percent in 2007, the study showed.

The improvement in China is due to "more vigorous enforcement and education," it said.

AFP said that according to the study the software piracy led legal software vendors to lose 15.26 billion US dollars in 2008, up 8.3 percent from 14.09 billion dollars the previous year.

The global average of unlicensed software worsened to 41 percent in 2008 from 38 percent the previous year, causing losses of almost 53 billion dollars, the study said.

"This increase in the average piracy rate is attributed to the mathematical outcome of more rapid growth of PC (personal computer) markets in economies of higher piracy rates," said Jeffrey Hardee, BSA’s vice president and regional director was quoted as saying by AFP.

"Even if piracy were to go down in every high-piracy country, their growing market share for PCs could drive the regional average up."

Widespread use of the Internet was another factor behind the increase, the study said.

"The availability of pirated software on the Internet, which ironically is facilitated by increasing broadband penetration in the region, is also a major concern," said Hardee.

Software includes operating systems, systems software like databases and security packages and application software like office packages, finance and tax packages and PC computer games.