Abstract

The National Reading Survey (NRS) is part of the National Reading Barometer project commissioned and managed by the Nal’ibali Trust in partnership with the National Library of South Africa, with additional support from the Zenex Foundation, DGMT and the National Education Collaboration Trust. The NRS is a nationally representative survey of 4,250 South African adults aged 16 and above. The NRS describes the reading practices, preferences and contexts of adults, both in terms of reading for themselves and reading with children in their household. In addition to covering information about frequency, depth and types of reading, access to and preferences regarding reading materials, and attitudes/motivations related to reading, the survey has focus areas relating to library use, digital reading, reading with children and reading language preferences. The results of the 2022/23 reading survey will be compared over time, beginning with the results of the National Reading Survey 2016 (conducted by the South African Book Development Council) and surveys to be conducted in 2026 and 2030. The findings from the National Reading Surveys will inform research, policy and practice related to reading in South Africa.

Geographic coverage

The findings from the National Reading Survey are nationally representative. The data is weighted by Province, population group and age group.

Analysis unit

Households and individuals

Kind of data

Survey data

Mode of data collection

Face-to-Face and Computer Assisted Personal and Telephone Interview

Research instrument

The survey used a CATI instrument (Kobo toolbox) for data collection.