More than 70 percent of all actively managed U.S. equity mutual funds trailed their benchmarks for the five years ending 2008, according to the 2008 Standard & Poor’s Index Versus Active Fund Scorecard (SPIVA).

The report shows that 71.9 percent of actively managed large-cap funds trailed the S&P 500; 75.9 percent of actively managed mid-cap funds trailed the S&P MidCap 400; and a stunning 85.5 percent of actively managed small-cap funds trailed the S&P SmallCap 600.

S&P says the results were consistent with the previous five-year cycle, from 1999 to 2003.

Actively managed funds also did poorly over the one-year period: 54 percent of large-cap funds trailed the S&P 500; 75 percent of mid-cap funds trailed the S&P MidCap 400; and 84 percent of small-cap funds trailed the S&P SmallCap 600.

The single worst category for active managers in 2008 was small-cap growth, where a dizzying 96 percent of managers trailed their benchmark. The only bright spot was large-cap value funds, which trounced the S&P 500 Value Index in 2008, with 78 percent of actively managed funds beating their benchmark.

But the story turns dismal again for active managers of international funds. Sixty-three percent of global funds trailed the S&P Global 1200 on a five-year basis; 84 percent of international funds trailed the S&P 700; 59 percent of international small-cap funds trailed the S&P Developed Ex-US Small-Cap; and 90 percent of emerging market funds trailed the S&P/IFCI Composite.

Fixed income is no better. Over five years, the percentage of fixed-income funds that outperformed their indexes in all standard domestic categories is less than 10 percent. The only exceptions are in high yield, where 48 percent of funds beat their benchmark; global fixed income, where 21 percent beat their benchmark; and emerging markets debt, where 38 percent beat their benchmark.

All results are adjusted for survivorship bias.