Reading Trends

HBook and pen caricatureave you read a book lately? Despite a slump experienced by other printed media such as newspapers and magazines, it seems that book reading is holding its own. A Gallup poll released in January 2017 found that people are reading books at almost the same rate that they were when Gallup last took this survey in 2002.

According to the survey, “35% say they read more than 11 books in the past year,” and “53% of young adults read between one and 10 books in the past year.” Only 16% of those surveyed said they read no books.

You may be surprised that e-books are not as popular as printed books, which were preferred by 73% of respondents.

Reading of books was more prevalent among the oldest and youngest age groups than among those in the middle years. The biggest increases were found among Americans aged 65 and older.