Are we paying the price for closing libraries and bookstores?
Reading is declining among the French, with 14% of them who have not read any books in 2020, and 25% who have not bought a new one, according to a study published Tuesday by the National Book Center.
“
Despite reassuring market dynamics for the book sector, we are seeing an overall decline in the number of readers,
” commented in a press release the president of this public establishment, Régine Hatchondo.
The CNL deplores "
a drop in reading, certainly linked to the constraints imposed by the health crisis
".
Read also: The bookstore, a business finally recognized as essential to life!
The study is carried out every two years by the Ipsos institute, and its results traditionally published before the opening of the Livre Paris fair.
But this event was canceled for the second year in a row due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
According to the survey carried out in January among 1000 people aged 15 and over, 86% of French people have read at least one book in 2020, or 8 points less than in 2018. “
The French probably wanted better understand the world and decipher the crisis we went through: they read more reporting and news books (essays, biographies ...), but fewer novels (-7 points) and practical books (-7 points)
”, according to the National Book Center.
They are 75% (-7 points) to have bought at least one new book, 34% (-7 points) to have bought used, and 68% (-9 points) to have been lent or offered .
Their preferred point of sale remains the bookstore (80% of buyers), ahead of specialized supermarkets (67%), internet (39%) and supermarkets or hypermarkets (39%).
Similarly, 83% of respondents have read at least one print book, of which only about a quarter have also read at least one digital book.
Only 3% of respondents read exclusively digitally.
The French are not losing interest in books, on the contrary: they often declare that they would like to read more, with 51% citing “
lack of time
”
as a brake
and 37% “
competition from other leisure activities
”.
"
If they had an extra day in the week to devote to their leisure activities, reading would be in second place of the activities they would favor, after outings with friends,
" noted Régine Hatchondo.
They are respectively 13 and 31% to say so.
