According to the results of a survey held in the United States, the share of Americans who had read more than 12 books in the last three months stood at five percent in February 2024. However, 28.5 percent had not any read any books in the three months running up to the survey.

The statistic shows the average number of books read per year by consumers in the United States as of August 2018, broken down by income. The data shows that Americans earning more than $80,000 a year were more likely to have read more books than those on lower salaries, with 16 percent of respondents in this category saying that they read between 20 and 50 books per year compared to 10 percent of Americans with a salary below $40,000.

As of December 2021, just 12 percent of surveyed women in the United States said that they had not read any books in the last year, ten percent less than the share of men who said the same. Both male and female respondents were most likely to have read one to five books in the year leading to the survey, though nine percent of women reported having read more than 51 books in that time.

A survey held between September and November 2020 found that the average number of print books engaged with per month was 3.8 among adults in the United States who took part in the study. By comparison, audiobooks were less popular among survey respondents, with fewer than two audiobooks engaged with per month on average.

According to a survey on Chinese reading habits conducted annually, paper books were more popular than digital books in China. As per survey results as of April 2024, Chinese adult consumers read an average of about 4.75 print books and 3.4 e-books per person.

In 2024, a literate adult in urban Mexico read, on average, 3.2 books per year. In 2022, the figure stood at 3.9 books. Mexicans' favorite book genre in 2024 was literature.

The statistic shows the average number of books consumers read per year in the United States in 2017, by ethnicity. During the survey, 30 percent of Hispanic American or Latino respondents stated that they read up to 10 books on average per year.

During a survey held in early 2021, it was found that 83 percent of adults aged between 18 and 29 years old had read a book in any format in the previous year, up by two percent from the share who said the same in 2019. The survey results showed that adults within this age category were more likely than older respondents to have read a book within the last twelve months.

Book readers in the U.S.

While it is mostly believed that book reading is a vanishing pastime, particularly among Millennials, surveys among consumers in the U.S. have shown the opposite. The share of book readers in the U.S. has varied from 72 percent to 79 percent between 2011 and 2016.

In regards to age of book readers in the country, a 2016 survey shows about 80 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 to 29 had read at least one book in the previous 12 months, the highest share amongst all age groups. About 73 percent of the respondents aged between 30 to 49 years old said they read at least one book in the last 12 months. The share among respondents between 50 and 64 years old stood at 70 percent, whereas 67 percent of respondents aged 65 plus stated reading book during the time measured. In terms of education level, book readers in the U.S. are more likely to have a college degree, or at least some college education – 86 percent and 81 percent respectively. Women in the U.S. read slightly more than men; 68 percent of male respondents started reading at least one book in the previous 12 months, against 77 percent of female respondents that said the same.

Despite the rise of digital platforms and the rising popularity of e-reading devices such as Kindle, Kobo and others, printed books still remain the most popular book format in the U.S., as 65 percent of Americans stated preference for printed books in 2016. E-books were consumed by 28 percent of respondents in 2016, whereas audio books were listened by 14 percent of the respondents. Millennials accounted for the largest share of printed book readers in the U.S. – 72 percent as of 2016.

According to the survey on Chinese reading habits conducted between October 2023 and February 2024, respondents aged above 18 years read, on average, 8.15 books, an increase from 8.11 books in the previous year. Children and teens generally read more books than adults in the survey.

The average daily time spent reading by individuals in the United States in 2023 amounted to 0.26 hours, or 15.6 minutes. According to the study, adults over the age of 75 were the most avid readers, spending over 45 minutes reading each day. Meanwhile, those aged between 15 and 19 years read for less than nine minutes per day on average. Reading and COVID-19 Daily time reading increased among most consumers between 2019 and 2020, part of which could be linked to the unprecedented increases in media consumption during COVID-19 shutdowns. The mean annual expenditure on books per consumer unit also increased year over year, along with spending on digital book readers. Book reading habits A 2020 survey on preferred book formats found that 70 percent of U.S. adults favored print books over e-books or audiobooks. However, engagement with digital books is growing. Figures from an annual study on book consumption revealed that the share of adults who reported reading an audiobook in the last year almost doubled between 2011 and 2019, and e-book readership also grew overall during that period.

According to a survey from May and June 2023, people older than 65 years of age read the most books in Czechia. On average, they read 12.9 books a year. However, the second highest number of books was read by the youngest generation, aged between 15 and 24 years, who read, on average, 9.9 books a year.

According to the results of an early 2024 survey, 52 percent of all book readers had read between one and five books in 2024. Consumers aged 65 and above were the most frequent readers, with 12 percent having read 50 books or more in the last year.

This graph illustrates the results of a survey regarding the reading habits of the French in 2023. The results of this study show that 25 percent of respondents said they were "casual readers", meaning that they had read between one and four print books in the 12 months preceding the survey.

The statistic shows the average number of books consumers read per year in the United States in 2017, sorted by age. During the survey, 43 percent of respondents aged 60 and older stated that they read more than 15 books on average per year.

A survey held in the United States in early 2021 found that 23 percent of all participants had not read any books in the twelve months running to the survey, whereas 18 percent of adults reported having read more than 20 print, audio, or e-books in the last year. The share of respondents who had read 20 books or more grew consistently between 2018 and 2021.

The country reported to have read books most regularly in 2017 was China, where a survey among internet users across 17 countries revealed that 36 percent of respondents read a book every day or most days, and 34 percent read at least once a week. Conversely, just 13 percent of South Korean respondents were reading books on a daily basis. Other countries with a low share of those aged 15 years or above reading daily included Belgium, Japan, the Netherlands and Mexico.

Age and reading habits

It is surprising how much age can affect reading habits, even on a global level. In Germany, more 12 to 13-year-olds read daily or several times per week than their slightly older peers. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, a survey showed that more teenagers and Millennials said that they would be happy without books than adults aged 34 or older. More than double the percentage of adults in Colombia aged 65 or above read a book every day than those aged between 12 and 25 years.

The number of books read over the past year in the United States was overall higher among adults aged 18 to 34 than older generations, and in Canada the share of children reading books for fun halved with the approach of teenage years. Whilst 50 percent of children aged between six and eight years old were reading for pleasure multiple times per week, among 15 to 17-year-olds this figure amounted to just 25 percent. Meanwhile, the opposite was true of going online for fun, which increased sharply with age and replaced the activity of reading.

A survey conducted in Great Britain in March 2024 found that 24 percent of Britons had not read any books in three months leading to the survey. Meanwhile, 14 percent had read one book in that time, and nine percent had read 12 books or more. Results varied by demographic, but in every case, only a small percentage said that they did not read books at all.

This statistic represents the average number of digital and print books read by people in France in the last twelve months previous to a survey conducted in January 2023. It shows that respondents read roughly five digital books on average annually.

According to a survey conducted in May 2021, Russians between 18 and 24 years old read more books on average compared to other age groups. One fifth of young adults in the country had not read any books in the six months prior to the survey. To compare, among respondents of 45 to 59 years of age, that share stood at 33 percent.

This statistic is a distribution of the French population as of January 2023, by number of digital books and print books read on average. That year, 35 percent of respondents declared they read 5 to 19 print books, while 71 percent of respondents have never read a digital book.