Berlin, Aug 2 (DPA) The US leads the world in the sending of spam, according to a study.

The study by IT security solutions provider Sophos showed that spam originating in Russia has dropped significantly. It also claimed that some 16.5 percent of all spam mails sent in the second quarter of this year came from the United States.

Russian spammers - previously a highly active bunch - were only responsible for 3.2 percent of all spam sent, which puts them in ninth place on the list.

Second place went to Brazil (11.1 percent), followed by Turkey (5.2) and India (5.0).