As of 2022, Czechia was the European country with the greatest number of libraries per million inhabitants, with the central European country have 992 libraries for every million citizens.

In the fiscal year of 2019, Washington D.C. had the highest per capita expenditure on its public libraries, at 87.72 U.S. dollars. New York, Oregon, Ohio, and Illinois all spent at least 65 U.S. dollars per capita. The state with the lowest per capita expenditure was Mississippi with 16.34 U.S. dollars.

The Public Libraries data set aggregates individual library services and finance data to the town level. Public libraries provide free borrowing privileges and services to their patrons and receive financial support from local tax funds. Public libraries may be municipal, which are established by and administrative units of local government, or association, which are not units of town government but receive some public funding. Some towns are served by more than one public library. Library visits include all persons entering a library for any purpose, including persons attending meetings or activities and persons requiring no staff assistance. Circulation counts all library materials of all formats lent out for use outside the library, including renewals. Registered borrowers are all town residents to whom a library has issued membership. Reference questions counts all interactions in which library staff provide information, knowledge, or recommendations to patrons. Town tax appropriation indicates the funds allotted to the library's operation budget from the town. The Adjusted Equalized Net Grand List per Capita (AENGLC) measures town wealth based on property tax and income per capita.

As of the fiscal year of 2019, New York state had the highest number of public libraries in the United States, with 756 libraries.This was followed by Illinois (with 623 public libraries), Texas (with 544), and Iowa (with 535 libraries).

In 2019, total per capita spending of public libraries in the United States was 41.90 U.S. dollars. Of that, 27.95 U.S. dollars were staffing costs, and 4.50 U.S. dollars were collection costs. Per capita spending peaked in 2009 when it was 42.60 U.S. dollars.

This statistic shows the top ten Canadian urban public libraries in 2015, by visits per capita. Vancouver Public Library had the highest per capita visits at 11.01 per resident.

The German Library Statistics (DBS) is the national statistics of the German library system and contains statistical key figures. It includes public libraries, scientific libraries, as well as specialized scientific libraries. More information can be found at DBS. This dataset contains the following information about public libraries in Bavaria in 2013: Einwohnerzahl, Medien pro Einwohner, Erneuerungsquote ( (Zugang*100)/Bestand ), Neuerwerbungen pro Einwohner, Veranstaltungen pro Tsd. Einwohner, Jahresöffnungsstunden pro Tsd. Einwohner, Computerarbeitsplätze pro Tsd. Einwohner, Anteil der Entleiher an den Einwohnern, Besuche pro Einwohner, Umsatz (Entleihungen/Bestand), Entleihungen pro Einwohner, Entleihungen (Tsd.) pro Personal (in VZÄ), Recherchen (Auskünfte) pro Einwohner, Personal (in VZÄ) pro Tsd. EW, Jahresöffnungsstunden pro Personal (in VZÄ), Fortbildungsstunden pro Personal (in VZÄ), Laufende Ausgaben pro Besuch, Laufende Ausgaben pro Einwohner, Erwerbungsausgaben pro Besuch, Anteil der Personalausgaben an den Gesamtausgaben, Anteil selbsterw. Means plus debt / total expenditure, acquisition expenditure per inhabitant, public area per thousand inhabitant

Generally speaking, the average number of library books borrowed in Finland slightly declined in the period from 2013 to 2020. However, after 2020 the average number of borrowed books started to increase again. In 2023, roughly 15.01 books were borrowed on average, which was slightly more than in the previous year.

Contained within the 3rd Edition (1957) of the Atlas of Canada is a map that shows two condensed maps of the locations where one or more art galleries, museums or libraries of 10 000 volumes and over existed circa the 1958 publication date of this atlas. Accompanying these maps is a pie chart showing the percentage distribution of volumes in public libraries by province and a bar graph showing the volumes per capita in libraries by province circa 1951.

In 2019, there were around 392.88 in-person visits to public libraries per 100 people in the United States. In the same year, there were around 686.39 circulated library items per 100 people. In-person visitation peaked in 2009 with around 535.5 visits per 100 people. The number of circulated items peaked in 2010 with 826.2 circulated items per 100 people.

The statistic above presents data on consumer book sales in the United States from 2008 to 2013 and a forecast until 2018, broken down by platform. According to PwC, the U.S. print and audiobook market value will fall from 13.1 billion in 2011 to 7.94 billion U.S. dollars in 2018.

E-books in the United States – additional information

In a survey among authors and publishers in May 2014, the following question was asked; How would you rate the quality of most e-books you have read? Only 7.91 percent of respondents stated the felt the quality of e-books was excellent and a further 31.63 percent of respondents stated that the quality was okay. These results suggest that there are some improvements to be made in the industry in order to secure its popularity in the future.

A cheaper alternative to purchasing a book, in any format, is of course to borrow the book from a local library where the choices are endless. In the recent past, libraries have become aware of the need to cater to the e-reader community. In a survey of over 500 public libraries in the U.S. between April and July 2014, respondents were asked if their library offered e-books. An overwhelming majority of 95 percent stated that they did.

However, when it came to the book consumption per capita in the U.S. in March 2014, by format, e-books were still trailing behind. In a survey of those aged 18 and over, 46 percent of respondents stated that they only read hard books compared to six percent of respondents who stated that they only read e-books. This reveals that in early 2014 that the traditional paper book was still the more appealing format to readers.