Global Reading Habits
Have you ever found yourself wondering about global literacy rates & reading habits. If so you might find this week’s post interesting. Click on the links to discover more.
The most literate nation in the World is: Finland — according to British newspaper, The Guardian.
But when it comes to reading assessment results Singapore comes out as number one.
The World’s least literate nation is South Sudan (literacy rate: 27%) — Grinding poverty and fleeing Janjaweed militias is evidently not conducive to reading.
Who are the World’s most prolific readers?
India — 10 hours, 42 minutes
Thailand — 9:24
China — 8:00
Philippines — 7:36
The USA comes in at number 22 (5:42) one place above my own nation the UK (5:18). Click here to view the survey.
As for the types of books being purchased globally:
Paperbacks: 45%
Hardbound: 27%
Ebooks: 22%
Audio: 2%
(Above figures were taken from this adweek survey)
According to the same survey 43% of books globally were purchased at E-commerce retailers.
We hear a lot about America’s eating habits, but what about their reading habits:
In 2015 77% of American women read a book, compared with 67% of American males.
The top grossing genre in the United States is Romance ($1.44 billion approx.)
As for the United Kingdom’s Reading Habits:
According to this YouGov survey, the average number of books read for pleasure by adults in the UK is approximately 10 per year. The median is 4.
Proportionately no country has more writers than Iceland — 1 in 10 Icelanders will publish a book during their lifetime according to this BBC report.
And the country with the most libraries:
China has 51311 libraries — great news for Chinese library goers unless they are looking for books about Tibet or the Dalai Lama.
As for the most bookstores:
In first place is Hong Kong with 21 bookstores per 100,000 people. Second place goes to Taipei with 17.6.
The World’s fastest readers are according to this survey the Germans (as of 2014). Yes, the Germans are even efficient at reading.
Did you know that the top 6 book markets are the USA, China, Germany, Japan, France & the UK. They account for over 60% of global spending on books.
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