France tops the poll on laptop theft

March 15, 2010, 9:59 PM GMT+0

Only 16% of the UK public have been the victim of laptop theft according to a survey commissioned by Absolute Software. It found that one third of all laptop theft in the United Kingdom happens at home and a quarter of all laptops reported stolen go missing from cars. France topped the table of all the countries polled with almost a quarter (23%) of the French public asked reporting that they had been a victim of laptop theft.

In the UK the most common place for theft to occur was within the home with 32% of all adults who have ever been a victim of laptop theft knowing someone who has been victim of a theft from this location. This is considerably higher than other countries - France, the USA, Canada and Germany reported only 22%, 18%, 17% and 17% respectively.

After the home, the second most common place for laptop theft in the UK was from the car with 24%, followed by from schools and university halls, from public transport and from offices, at eight percent, eight percent and seven percent apiece.

Coffee shops (2%), airports (2%) and libraries (2%) were reported as slightly less likely to be the scene of laptop crime.

For survey details and full results, please click here