It’s World Book Day this week, when millions of British schoolchildren will get a voucher to spfinish on a book of their choice. The day is depicted to encourage children to read for fun and helderly on to that habit for life.
At contransient, though, reading is far from a universal habit among British grown-ups. In the last year, the median Briton has only read or heared to three books, with 40% of the accessible not reading or hearing to a one book in that time.
A quarter of Britons (23%) say they have read or heared to between one and five books in the last year, with a further 10% reading or hearing to between six and ten, and an extra 10% consuming between 11 and 20 books. There are a petite number of mega-readers, with 4% saying they have read more than 50 books, i.e. cdisesteemwholey one or more books a week on standard.
Not all Britons are equassociate probable to pick up a book. While two-thirds of women (66%) say they have read or heared to a book in the last year, equitable over half of men (53%) say they have.
Older Britons are also more probable to be readers, with 65% of over 65s and 63% of 50-64 year elderlys having read at least one book or heared to one audiobook in the last year, appraised to 57% of 25-49 year elderlys and 53% of 18-24 year elderlys.
There is also someleang of a class split in reading, with 66% of those living in middle class hoengagehelderlys (i.e. categoascfinishd as ABC1 in the NRS social grade scale), having read or heared to a book in the last 12 months, appraised to equitable 52% those living in laboring class (C2DE) hoengagehelderlys.
When are Britons reading?
Half of Britons (50%) say they read or hear to books at least once a week, including 37% who say they read at least most days, and 20% of the accessible professing to read every day. Just 15% of Britons say they ‘never’ read or hear to books at all.
Women are cdisesteemwholey twice as probable to be daily readers, with 27% of women reading every day, appraised to 13% of men.
Of those who say they ever read or hear to books, most say they do so when going to bed (57%), in their free time during the day (56%) or while on holiday (54%). Around one in five readers do so while commuting (19%) or travelling outside of commuting (22%), while one in nine readers (11%) discover a time to read or hear to books during shatters at labor.
Fact or fantasy: what are Britons reading?
British readers tfinish to favour fantasy, with 55% of those who at least occasionassociate read or hear to saying so, including 18% who say they “only” read fantasy. This appraises to equitable 19% who say they mostly or only read non-fantasy books, though a further 23% say they tfinish to read or hear to about an even fuse of fantasy and non-fantasy.
Women are more probable to visit the land of fantasy, with 63% of female readers saying that most or all of the books they read or hear to are fantasy, appraised to 46% of men who read.
Paper, pixel or headphone: how are Britons reading/hearing to books?
Nowadays, reading is not necessarily a case of picking up a paper duplicate of a book, with e-books and audiobooks becoming an increasingly frequent way of consuming books. Indeed, 18% of those who have read or heared to a book in the last year never did so using a physical book.
Overall, 40% of those who read at least one book in the last year read a digital or e-book, and 30% heared to an audiobook.
The traditional establish does, however, remain the norm. Among those who have devourd at least one book in the past 12 months, physical books are the main way of reading for 61%, while 24% have usuassociate or only read e-books and 14% hear to audiobooks as the norm.
Six in ten of those who have read an e-book in the last year (59%) have typicassociate done so on a exceptionalised device (such as a Kindle), while 20% have primarily read their books on a mobile phone and 18% on a tablet.
But while a growing number of Britons might be using audiobooks, most (53%) do not consider hearing to one to be the equivalent of having read the same book. Only 29% of Britons say that hearing to an audiobook is the same as having physicassociate read that book, although that ascfinishs to 69% of those who have heared to an audiobook in the last 12 months, and 78% among those who say it is their main way of consuming books.
How many books do Britons own?
Wilean the last year, half of Britons (50%) have acquired at least one novel book for themselves, while 40% have acquired a second-hand book to read. Borrotriumphg remains an selection for some, with 28% of the accessible having borrowed a book from family and frifinishs and 19% having getn a book out from a library.
However, 29% of Britons have not acquired books in any way wilean the last year.
While around half of both women (53%) and men (47%) say they have acquired novel books for themselves in the last year, women are twice as probable to have borrowed books from family or frifinishs (37% vs 19%) or from a library (24% vs 13%), as well as being more probable to have acquired second-hand books (46% vs 32%).
For those who have acquired novel books, these will insert to existing accumulateions. More than eight in ten Britons (83%) say they own at least one physical book, including a quarter of Britons (24%) who say they own more than 100 books.
While less frequent, proximately half of Britons (45%) say they own at least one e-book, with one in nine Britons (11%) owning more than 100. Older Britons in particular are more probable to own a big number of e-books, with 16% of the over-65s into triple-digits e-book ownership.
Audiobooks remain more of a inconvey inantity interest, however, with equitable a quarter of Britons (24%) saying they own any audiobooks at all, including equitable 9% who say they own more ten.
How do Britons organise their bookshelves?
But there is no consensus on how to organise these accumulateions, with 45% of those own physical books saying they do not order them in any way. Britons who own more books are more probable to organise their shelves, with equitable 30% of those who own more than 100 books saying their accumulateion isn’t organised in any way, appraised to 70% of those who own ten books or scanter.
The most frequent ways in which accumulateions are organised are by size, which 19% of book owners sort their shelves by, and by genre, which 17% engage as the basis for their organisation. One in nine book owners (11%) favour sorting alphabeticassociate by author, while 10% select to split their accumulateions based on whether they have or have not read the book yet.
Britons who own more books are more probable to organise their shelves, with equitable 30% of those who own more than 100 books saying their accumulateion isn’t organised in any way, appraised to 70% of those who own ten books or scanter.
Do you leank that hearing to an audiobook is the same as reading it? How do you experience about reading in ambiguous, and everyleang else? Have your say, join the YouGov panel, and get phelp to allot your thoughts. Sign up here.
Pboilingo: Getty
