According to a report on spam trends for the second quarter of 2009, released by antivirus vendor Sophos, the U.S. were the primary source of junk mails for the past few months. Meanwhile, Brazil came in second, a place previously occupied by Russia during the same period in 2008.
Sophos compiled what it calls the “Dirty Dozen” spam-relaying nations list, by analyzing email messages captured between April and June 2009 in its spam traps spread across the world. The names on the list are the same as the ones for Q2 2008, with the exception of Colombia, which got replaced by Vietnam.
The complete Q2 2009 “Dirty Dozen” reads as follows: USA (15.6%), Brazil (11.1%), Turkey (5.2%), India (5%), S. Korea (4.7%), Poland (4.2%), China (4.1%), Spain (3.4%), Russia (3.2%), Italy (2.8%), Argentina (2.55%) and Vietnam (2.3%).
Obviously, in reality, there are many other factors to consider besides counting the spam messages, such as the country's size, number of computers and Internet infrastructure. However, Russia is a prime example of a big country that succeeded in significantly decreasing its spam traffic, dropping from the second place in Q2 2008 to the seventh in the same period this year.
This drop is even more impressive as spamming is still not considered a crime in Russia. That does not mean that Russian cyber-criminal gangs might not actually be responsible for a fair amount of spam emails that are being sent from the U.S. But that would suggest yet another serious problem – the large number of compromised U.S. computers, which participate in spam botnets.
“Barack Obama's recent speech on cybersecurity emphasised the threat posed by overseas criminals and enemy states, but these figures prove that there is a significant problem in his own back yard. If America could clean up its compromised PCs it would be a considerable benefit to everyone around the world who uses the net,” Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, commented.
When it comes to continents, however, North America can be relieved to know that it only occupies the fourth position, despite the U.S.' high influence on global spam. Asia remains the mains source of junk email traffic, amounting to 31.7%. Europe comes in second with 27.1%, and the rapid ascension of Poland on the “Dirty Dozen” list, which jumped from the tenth place in Q1 2009 to the sixth in Q2 2009, is worth noting.
The third place is held by S. America (19.4%), while Africa comes in fifth with 2%. The spam output from the rest of the continents amounts to about 1% combined.
Source: Softpedia
Uk is now 14th position however it is still worrying all the same. I see it's not only the home user but companies and governments that need educating about Botnets as they must amount to a fair part of the spam going though theiir servers.
Somehow I wonder where they get this information as we all know Botnets spread the mass spam yet these can be controlled through any computer(s) anywhere so in reality defining the source, to say which country tops the list, is a task in its own right. I assume they base their results on actual zombies located in that coutry.
I don't know who is worse, the US, Russians (RBN) or the Chinese! Three major powers with high levels of internet crime and spam. At least we know the US are more focussed on stopping this but as for the others, well, that depends on the bribes the authorities get, to turn a blind eye..... 
If you can't beat them, join them (as the saying goes) but I know I would get prime jail time at Her Majesty's Pleasure before I could get any profit. 