According to an annual report by barracuda networks, 95 percent of all email sent in 2007 was spam. In 2001, the report points out, 5 percent of all email was classified as spam. The company bases its numbers on evaluation of more than one billion daily email messages sent to 50,000 customers. From 2006, the tide of spam rose from an estimated 85-90 percent to its present level of 95 percent.

Based on its analysis, the company says that nearly 50 percent of users received five or fewer spam messages each day, while 13 percent received more than 50 spam messages per day. Nearly 6 of 10 respondents viewed spam as the worst form of junk advertising, compared to 31 percent who cited postal junk mail and 12 percent who cited telemarketing.