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Women and adolescents drive the growth of reading in Spain

2023-02-27T18:21:50.224Z


The latest annual Barometer for the sector reveals that more than a third of the population never or almost never reads, compared to 64.8% who do so regularly in their free time


A woman in a bookstore.Getty Images

All of Spain reads.

For every 100 citizens, there are barely four Mohicans who resist this activity with their backs turned.

That is, 96 citizens of those 100 read (whatever) at least once a quarter.

What varies is how much, how and above all what.

novels?

Essays?

Reports?

A tweet or a message on Instagram?

The Barometer of Reading and Book Buying Habits in Spain, published today by the Federation of Publishers Guilds with data from 2022, offers a myriad of updated figures to analyze the relationship of Spaniards with the written word.

And its evolution in the last 10 years.

An increasingly solid bond for two thirds of the population.

Even an idyll for many, since they read more than they do.

Although there are also misunderstandings and silences: still more than a third of those surveyed —there were 4,800 interviewees,

from 14 years old—never or almost never reads books.

Below is a review of the most outstanding numbers of the study, together with some other information from the Yearbook of Cultural Statistics of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

More information

Robot portrait of the Spanish reader

what is read

What else, newspapers: 71.9% approached them, either in print or digital edition, at least once in a quarter.

Right after, books seduce 68.4%, either by choice or by work.

But the Observatory breaks down a little more, in search of the real fan: 64.8% read them in their spare time.

For pleasure, it goes without saying.

Here is the best data of the last decade, which has registered a constant increase, year after year.

If you add comics, you touch 70% of the population that enjoys reading and turns to it.

And, more generally, comics manage to interest one in 10 citizens.

The other areas where reading is most devoted, however, are others: websites, blogs and forums (64.9%) or social networks (59.5%).

love and hate for books

52.5% read books in their personal time every week.

The number has been growing since 2012 and has stabilized in the last three years.

Here, then, is a hard core that is as passionate as it is consolidated.

Faced with this, the percentage of those who never or almost never read has gradually decreased over the same period.

It still represents, yes, 35.2% of the population.

Reasons not to read

The reason most frequently given by those interviewed is lack of time (44%).

And even more adduced by citizens between 25 and 34 years: 57.3% of those who do not read in that age group.

With an almost identical percentage to each other, around 30%, the other two most frequent reasons are lack of interest or preference for other entertainment.

Assuming that everyone faces a 24-hour day, it could be argued that all three responses actually say the same thing: “I have other priorities.”

It is curious that, after years of hearing that the internet, platforms or video games have taken prominence and love for reading, the activities that respondents choose the most instead of books are others: walking (25%);

and "rest, do nothing, sleep", with 18.1%.

Below, competition from other cultural spheres does appear: watching series and movies (15.9%), television (14.7%) or using social networks (10.5%).

An electronic book.

Unsplash License

unstoppable production

The matter seems, without a doubt, much more complex.

But it is true that the comparison of the two figures is astonishing: on one side, a third of the population that does not touch the books.

And, on the other, the record of 90,379 first editions launched in 2021, according to the Ministry's Yearbook.

Who is going to read them?, more than one could wonder.

Although there are nuances: the market has reduced the average circulation, and the most populated publisher category is that of those who publish between two and four books a year.

Then, of course, there are 22 colossi that launch more than 500. The most edited, by the way, are works from Social Sciences and Humanities (39.5%).

Literary creation accounts for slightly less than a quarter of the books, and children's and youth one in 10.

And who buys those books?

In reality, more and more Spaniards are buying books: from 41.6% in 2012 to 52.8% last year.

Bookstores can celebrate being the first channel for non-text works (69.9%) and also the most frequent answer (45%) to the question: where did you buy the last book?

At the same time, however, the Internet adds and continues: it is already the second option for purchases in general (44%), the favorite for young people and the one that grows the most when respondents share their most recent acquisition: 25% do so. it did online, compared to 4% in 2012. Broadly speaking, what department stores and hypermarkets have lost in the last decade has been taken by the internet.

University student, young and from Madrid

There should not be, at least judging by the Barometer figures, a more reading figure in Spain.

Because the love of books varies, and a lot, according to sex, geography, age or level of studies.

Thus, women read in their free time more than men and than the national average: 69.9% of them, compared to 59.5% of men.

And, between 25 and 34 years, the difference is even greater.

At the same time, the report shows an evident relationship between education and attachment to books in free time: there is a gap between university students (86.5%) read and those who studied up to primary school (39%).

And between Autonomous Communities there is also a gap, although smaller: in all of them, the reading population has grown since 2012, but there continues to be a notable inequality between the data for Madrid, the highest with 74.2% of book habituals , and Extremadura, with 55.1%, the lowest figure.

Deep down, in the publishing field, the fracture is even greater: one out of every two books registered in the ISBN comes from Madrid or Catalonia.

Extremadura, again with the lowest data, contributes 0.7%, according to the Ministry's Statistics Yearbook.

The eternal (and false) prejudice that young people do not read

Quite the contrary: they are precisely the most devoted.

Between the ages of 14 and 24, 74.2% read at least once a quarter in their free time, some 10 points above the national average.

In addition, minors between the ages of 10 and 14 and between 15 and 18 register the highest percentages of frequent readers in the entire country.

Conversely, from the age of 65 books seem to lose their appeal: only 51.9% look for them.

It is, yes, the age group with the highest growth since 2012, which gives more hope for the future.

Although, in reality, the phenomenon is much more widespread: young people are the group that participates the most in practically all artistic activities, according to the Ministry's Cultural Statistics Yearbook.

And, almost always, that enthusiasm decreases with age until it skyrockets after 65, with exceptions such as opera or classical music.

Thus, a question remains that perhaps some administration or cultural manager will resolve sooner or later: why, after retiring, the Spanish do not take advantage of their free time for the arts and, conversely, move away from them.

Buying and selling books at the Madrid Book Fair.ULY MARTÍN

the smallest yet

75.9% of adults read books to children under six years of age.

Of course, either because there are fewer forced closures and more to do outside the home, or because most Spanish companies have imposed a reduction or elimination of teleworking, the fact is that much less time is spent on this activity than a year ago with the little ones: from three hours and 23 minutes a week to two hours and 48. When the children grow up and begin to read on their own, they maintain or even reinforce the passion: between six and nine years old, 85.3% open books at least Occasionally.

On the internet, in the ears

Reading on digital support remains similar to that of 2021, with 29.5% of the population, an almost constant rate in the last four years.

And the interest in audiobooks is also stable: 5.4% listened to them at least once in the last quarter.

Of course, "the percentage of users of this type of content is much higher among those under 35 years of age," says the report.

Reading, going to the movies, visiting museums... and what else?

Very simple: the reading population registers participation rates higher than the national average in absolutely all other artistic activities, as shown by the Statistical Yearbook of Culture.

Source: elparis

All life articles on 2023-02-27

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