Although women’s reading rates have fallen slightly, Hispanic reading rates remain stable. people who read books in their spare timeincreased from 64.8% to 64.1% last year and A significant percentage of people who have never done this continuemore than a “stubborn” third of the population.
These are some of the data from the Barometer of Reading Habits and Book Purchasing in Spain 2023, presented this Wednesday at the National Library of Spain and presented by the president of the Federation of Spanish Publishers’ Associations (FGEE). Daniel FernandezHe emphasized that the fact that reading for pleasure has increased by 5 points in the last 11 years (from 59.1% to 64.1%) is good news, although it is a “B side”.
And this “More than a third of Spaniards never open a door. book“The person who never enters the library or visits the museum,” Fernández emphasized, emphasizing that this reading inequality eventually leads to social inequalities. He also emphasized that the Spanish society problem in secondary educationHe said it seemed like a “lost battle” when the trend to stop reading emerged with the advent of mobile phones.
Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, He evaluated this in Spain ““It is read and read more”. But “we want this index to go even further and grow”, he underlined the support given to independent bookstores and their work so that there are no barriers to reading reaching everywhere and overcoming the barriers between the rural and urban world.
For this purpose, Urtasun announced that in addition to consolidating the first phase of the 2021-2024 Reading Plan, 1.4 million euros were allocated to local organizations for reading promotion activities.
The Minister emphasized that this study is representative. Test “Cultural health of the country” and gives figures on the exercise of the right to read: this is a “still photograph” of equality in all its expressions and the way of life of society.
A barometer reflecting continued differences in reading rates between autonomous communities, men and women, and age groups. However, there has been a situation since 2012. Increase in rates among readers aged 65 and over increased by more than 15 percent (53.7%). It is also the age group with the smallest differences between both genders.
Madrid is ahead
Everyone has experienced it by the Autonomous Communities has increased in the last eleven years but only 6 of them are above the Spanish average, which reached 64.1% last year. These communities are: Madrid (73.5%), Catalonia (68.2%), Navarra (68.1%), Basque Country (67.8%), La Rioja (66.6%) and Aragon (64%) ,3). Those between the average and 60% are: Valencian Community, Asturias, Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Castilla y León and Galicia.
Below 60% were Murcia (59.5%), Andalusia (59.0%), Castilla-La Mancha (58.9%), Canary Islands (58.3%) and Extremadura (54.4%) .
The percentage of women who spend their free time reading exceeds that of men in all age groups; There is a particular difference of 17.5 points between the 25-34 age group, and this rate reaches 73.4% for women.
As for the Spaniards who do not read, Four in ten people claim that lack of free time is the main reason. This figure increases to 54.4 percent in the population in the 55-64 age group. 31.1% state that they prefer to spend their free time with other entertainment. 29.7% of non-readers express a lack of interest, and 1.6% do not read books due to vision or health reasons.