The Economist surveyed 1,500 American adults in mid-December 2023, mostly about politics, but a few questions centered on books. What it revealed about American reading habits is fascinating.
Depressingly, the survey found that most people don’t read very many books, with 46% reporting they read zero books over the past year and just five percent having read one. So, if you read just two books, it puts you in the top half of readers. Ten books puts you at about the 80th percentile.
Here’s a chart of the data by The Washington Post:
Note that “reading a book” included listening to an audiobook (which is NOT cheating).
What Genres are Most Popular?
History and crime are the most popular genres while poetry is the least popular. If you are surprised how low the Young Adult genre ranked, keep in mind that this survey was only of adults.
Do you only read non-fiction? If so, here’s an IFOD about why you may want to add some fiction to your reading.
Physical Books vs. e-Books vs. Audiobooks
How do you consume your books? I only read e-books and listen to audiobooks. If someone buys me a physical book, I put it on my bookshelf and buy a digital copy.
Here’s how the sales of the three formats break out by revenue for calendar year 2022:
But based on units sold, it’s a different story:
Data source for charts here.
Males and younger people are bigger buyers of e-books. Here’s the breakdown of types of books owned by gender and age:
I read lots of e-books (in the 80th-90th percentile). But I only own a handful of them because I borrow most of them from my local public library. I wonder where those stats would fit into the Economist’s ownership data? Hooray for our libraries!