Without exaggeration, the good news about reading books in Spain continues. The strong increase in reading habits in the first year of the pandemic has not only consolidated, but continues to maintain a small upward momentum. Percentage of leisure readers increased from 62.2% to 64% from 2019 to 2020, quarantine and through restrictions. The rate rose to 64.4% in 2021 and was 64.8% in 2022. In the decade since 2012, the index has increased by 5.7 percentage points from 59.1% to the aforementioned 64.8% (52.5% daily or weekly readers and 12.3% monthly or weekly readers). quarterly readers).
If negative inverse 35.2% of Spaniards have never or almost never read a book. It’s just over a third of the population. In 2012, 40.9% of them did not read books or take photographs.
“Gradually, overall reading numbers in Spain are approaching European averages,” he said. Daniel Fernandez, President of FGEE-. It is a fact that there are age groups and geographical regions that are completely comparable to the countries around us,” he said.
significant differences
Barometer detects significant differences between autonomous communities. Madrid, which 74.2% of the population read in their spare time, leads the ranking. Catalonia (68.7%), Navarra and the Basque Country (68.2%), La Rioja (66.7%) and Aragón (65%) are also above the Spanish average. Autonomies with fewer readers are Castilla-La Mancha (59.6%), Canarias (59.1%) and Extremadura (55.1%).
Women read significantly more than men: 69.9% compared to 59.5%. This ten-point difference is the same as ten years ago. A classic.
The gap marked by the working level also remains unchanged. There is 47.5 points between the rate of students studying at university (86.5%) and the rate of primary school graduates (39%). In 2012, the super step was 47.8 points (82.1% vs. 34.3%). Another classic, that’s directly related to economic inequality.
“We must continue to strive to reduce the imbalances that are reflected in the barometer -” Fernández claimed. a social contract for books and reading This concerns not only political parties, but also society as a whole. As books contribute to a more critical society, we must consider that the societies that read the most are those with better economic and democratic health.”
bookstores vs internet
The report reflects that The age group that reads the most books is between the ages of 14-24. (74.2%), followed by 45 to 64 (69.2%). The rate is 65.1% for the 25-44 age group and 51.9% for the 65 year old.
The traditional bookstore is the main purchasing channel Extracurricular books (69.9%), followed by the Internet (44%) and bookstore chains (33.3%). The Internet is the favorite shopping channel of young people between the ages of 25-30. 52.8% of the population bought at least one book in 2022, 12.5 points more than ten years ago.
Digital reading remains stable, with 29.5% of the population aged 14 and over reading books in digital format. Regarding audiobooks, user numbers stabilized in 2022, with 5.4% of the population listening to audiobooks at least quarterly.
26.2% of Spaniards visited a library. Although it is one point more than in 2021, it is still a long way from 32% in 2019, the year before the pandemic.