Reading habits around the world

Respondents were asked how often they read books.  The response options were:

• Every day or most days
• At least once a week
• Once a month
• Less often
• Never

Headline findings

• 60% of online population reads books either daily or at least once a week
• China has the highest percentage of every day book readers (36%)
• Spain and the UK are joint second to China, are joint second to China, with 32% of respondents claiming to read books every day
• Netherlands and South Korea tie for the highest percentage who say they never read books
• High income households more likely to read books frequently than low income
• 32% of women surveyed claim to read books every day or most days; 27% of men say the same thing
• The gender gap among those who read daily is widest in the Netherlands (30% of women vs 14% of men); Spain (40% of women vs 25% of men); Canada (36% of women vs 23% of men) and Germany (31% of women vs 19% of men)

The report provides three pages of data for each country included in the report. The countries included in the research:

Argentina; Australia; Belgium; Brazil; Canada; China; France; Germany; Italy; Japan; Mexico; Netherlands; Russia; South Korea; Spain; UK; USA.

The full White Paper can be downloaded from GfK.