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Share of readers by country

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Publish date: Jan 28, 2021
Last updated: Jul 27, 2022
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World map with percentage of adult readers of books by country.
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Percentage of adult readers of books by country.
Licenced under CC BY-NC: When sharing, please include a link to this page.

Percentage of adult readers of books is indicated for each country. The figure corresponds to the percentage of people who read at least one book a year.

The figures are presented based on data provided by research centers or government institutions in charge of culture and education in the respective country. Sources are indicated in the endnotes.

CountryShare of readers
Argentina 144,2%
Australia 291,7%
Brazil 356%
Canada 479%
Chile 544%
China 676,3%
Colombia 750,2%
Estonia 875%
Finland 985%
France 1092%
Italy 1160%
Mexico 1241,1%
New Zealand 1386%
Peru 1475,4%
Portugal 1549%
Spain 1668,5%
Switzerland 1783%
United Kingdom 1851%
United States 1973%
Venezuela 2050,2%

Endnotes:

  1. Argentina: Sistema de información cultural de la Argentina. 2017. “Encuesta Nacional de Consumos Culturales 2017: Libros”. https://encuestadeconsumo.sinca.gob.ar/libros ↩︎

  2. Australia: Macquarie University. 2016. “Reading The Reader: A Survey Of Australian Reading Habits”. https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/research/reading-the-reader/ ↩︎

  3. Brazil: Instituto Pró-Livro - IBOPE. 2019. “A 5ª edição da Retratos da Leitura no Brasil: O leitor de livros”. https://www.prolivro.org.br/5a-edicao-de-retratos-da-leitura-no-brasil-2/a-pesquisa-5a-edicao/ ↩︎

  4. Canada: Booknet Canada. 2020. “Reading and Buying Books for Pleasure: 2005 National Survey”. https://www.booknetcanada.ca/canadian-leisure-and-reading-2020 ↩︎

  5. Chile: Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes (CNCA). 2014. “Encuesta de Comportamiento Lector 2014”. http://plandelectura.gob.cl/recursos/encuesta-de-comportamiento-lector-2014/ ↩︎

  6. China: China Daily. 2012. “Reading rate falling in China”. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-04/19/content_16423992.htm ↩︎

  7. Colombia: Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (DANE). 2020. “Encuesta de consumo cultural (ECC): Boletín Técnico. p.7”. https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/cultura/consumo-cultural ↩︎

  8. Estonia: Statistics Estonia. 2010. “Residents of Estonia continuously take a big interest in book reading”. https://www.stat.ee/en/uudised/news-release-2010-167 [We have calculated the percentage from the data provided.] ↩︎

  9. Finland: Statistics Finland. 2017. “Statistics Finland’s PxWeb databases”. http://pxnet2.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/en/StatFin/StatFin__eli__vpa__Kirjojen_lukeminen/statfin_vpa_pxt_137.px/table/tableViewLayout1/ ↩︎

  10. France: Ipsos pour le Centre National du livre. 2019. “Les Français et la lecture en 2019: Étude complète. p. 12”. https://centrenationaldulivre.fr/donnees-cles/les-francais-et-la-lecture-en-2019 ↩︎

  11. Italy: Associazione Italiana Editori (AIE). 2018. “Lo stato dell’editoria in Italia, il profilo del lettore, i canali di vendita e il nuovo universo digitale. p. 5”. https://www.aie.it/Portals/_default/Skede/Allegati/Skeda105-4450-2019.6.28/2019_06_28_Mercato_Serie_Tv_RIV.pdf ↩︎

  12. Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI). 2022. “Módulo sobre Lectura (MOLEC): Documentación, Presentación de resultados, Febrero 2022. p. 16”. https://www.inegi.org.mx/programas/molec/#Documentacion ↩︎

  13. New Zealand: New Zealand Book Council. 2018. “2018 research: Book Reading in New Zealand. p. 8”. https://www.read-nz.org/advocacy/research/ ↩︎

  14. Peru: Instituto de Opinión Pública de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (IOP-PUCP) . 2015. “Boletín N° 137: Libros y hábitos de lectura. p. 2”. https://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/bitstream/handle/123456789/160984/BoletinIOP_PUCP_137.pdf ↩︎

  15. Portugal: Plano Nacional de Leitura 2027 (PNL). “Hábitos de Leitura de Livros: Relatório. p. 14”. http://www.pnl2027.gov.pt/np4/habitosdeleitura.html ↩︎

  16. Spain: Federación de Gremios de Editores de España. 2021. “Hábitos de Lectura y Compra de Libros Año 2021”. https://www.federacioneditores.org/documentos.php ↩︎

  17. Switzerland: Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS). 2019. “Kulturverhalten in der Schweiz: Wichtigste Ergebnisse 2019 und Vergleich mit 2014. p.22”. https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/kultur-medien-informationsgesellschaft-sport/kultur/kulturverhalten.assetdetail.15044399.html ↩︎

  18. United Kingdom: Kantar Data Consulting Company. 2019. “Are people still reading physical books?”. https://www.kantar.com/uki/inspiration/sport-leisure/are-people-still-reading-physical-books/ ↩︎

  19. United States: Pew Research Center. 2016. “Book Reading 2016”. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2016/09/01/book-reading-2016/pi_2016-09-01_book-reading_0-01/ ↩︎

  20. Venezuela: Instituto Autónomo Centro Nacional del libro (CENAL). 2012. “Encuesta del Comportamiento Lector, Acceso al Libro y la Lectura en Venezuela, año 2012. p. 28”. appendix/Venezuela-2012.pdf ↩︎


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