Cyprus emerged as one of the EU countries with the lowest percentage of book readers, just above Romania, which reported the lowest reading rate at 29.5%. Ouch!
The 2022 Eurostat survey on book reading habits across the European Union presents a revealing snapshot of the diverse reading cultures within member states. For publishing industry professionals, these insights, if we accept they are accurate, are crucial for understanding market dynamics and tailoring strategies to foster reading habits.
Cyprus emerged as one of the EU countries with the lowest percentage of book readers, with only 33.1% of its population engaging in reading activities. This places Cyprus just above Romania, which reported the lowest reading rate at 29.5%. Ouch!
The survey provides a granular view of reading habits in Cyprus:
- 21.3% of the population read fewer than five books annually.
- 7.1% read between five to nine books.
- Only 4.7% read more than ten books in a year, significantly lower than the EU average of 13.8%.
In contrast, Luxembourg leads the EU with an impressive 75.2% of its population having read books in the past year. Denmark and Estonia follow closely, with 72.1% and 70.7% respectively. These countries exemplify successful reading cultures, supported by robust educational systems, accessible libraries, and strong cultural emphasis on reading.
The survey also reveals demographic trends across the EU, showing that younger people and women are more likely to read books.
Full disclosure – I leaned on a report in the Cyprus Mail, which self-evidently did not offer much about the bigger picture of the report, which I’ll try come back to soon.
Here just to note that, while Romania is bottom in the reading stakes, it has a couple of very vibrant audiobook operators painting a very different picture
This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsletter.
