Spain keeps turning pages: reading habits rise and gaps persist
There is no exaggeration in the continuing good news about reading in Spain. The surge in reading during the first year of the pandemic not only held steady but showed a small, ongoing upward momentum. The share of leisure readers climbed from 62.2% in 2019 to 64% in 2020 as restrictions kept people at home. The rate edged up to 64.4% in 2021 and reached 64.8% in 2022. Over the decade since 2012, the index rose by 5.7 percentage points from 59.1% to 64.8%, with 52.5% reading daily or weekly and 12.3% reading monthly or weekly.
On the flip side, 35.2% of Spaniards have never or almost never read a book. That figure sits just over one third of the population. In 2012, 40.9% did not read books or take photographs.
“Gradually, overall reading numbers in Spain are aligning with European averages,” stated Daniel Fernandez, president of FGEE. He noted that some age groups and regions match those in neighboring countries, while other areas show clear differences.
notable regional differences
The barometer highlights clear gaps between autonomous communities. Madrid leads with 74.2% of residents reporting leisure reading, followed by catalonia at 68.7%, Navarra and the Basque Country at 68.2%, La Rioja at 66.7%, and Aragon at 65%—all above the Spanish average. Regions with fewer readers include Castilla-La Mancha at 59.6%, the Canary Islands at 59.1%, and Extremadura at 55.1%.
Women read substantially more than men, with 69.9% versus 59.5%. That ten-point gap remains consistent with a decade ago, a classic pattern in the data.
The divide by education level also persists. The gap between university students and primary school graduates is 47.5 points, with 86.5% of university students reading compared to 39% of primary school graduates. In 2012, the gap was 47.8 points (82.1% vs. 34.3%). This enduring disparity mirrors broader economic inequality.
Fernandez emphasized the need to keep addressing imbalances reflected in the barometer and to pursue a social contract for books and reading. He argued for a society-wide approach, noting that books foster critical thinking and that societies with higher reading rates tend to show stronger economic and democratic health.
booksellers vs the internet
The report shows the largest reading age group is 14 to 24 years old (74.2%), followed by people aged 45 to 64 (69.2%). The rate is 65.1% for ages 25 to 44 and 51.9% for the 65 and older cohort.
The traditional bookstore remains the main channel for purchasing extracurricular books (69.9%), followed by the internet (44%) and bookstore chains (33.3%). The internet is especially favored by young adults aged 25 to 30. In 2022, 52.8% of Spaniards bought at least one book, up about 12.5 points from a decade earlier.
Digital reading stayed steady, with 29.5% of those aged 14 and over reading in digital format. Audiobooks registered a stable presence in 2022, with 5.4% listening at least quarterly. About 26.2% of Spaniards visited a library in 2022, a modest rise from 2021 but still below the 32% level reached in 2019 before the pandemic.