Average reading time in Serbia 6 minutes, two in France, 12 in Finland...

The average time spent reading books ranges from 2 minutes per day in France, 5 minutes in Italy, Austria and Romania and 6 minutes in Serbia, Eurostat announced several days ago on the occasion of the World Book Day, April 23.

Estonians spend 13 minutes a day reading, whereas the Finnish, the Polish and the Norwegian spend a minute less, and Hungarians read for 10 minutes per day, as shown by a survey carried out in 15 EU countries, Norway, Serbia and Turkey between 2008 and 2015. The survey covered the age group 20 to 74.

Eurostat data show that, in 2016, households in the European Union spent over EUR 90 billion or 1.1% of their total consumption expenditure on books, newspapers and stationery. This represents 0.6% of EU GDP, or about EUR 200 per EU inhabitant.

Annually, households spent double the amount on books, newspapers and stationery as they spent on package holidays. On the other hand, households’ expenditure on these items was less than half of their spending on recreational and cultural services.

Spending on books, newspapers and stationary is in decline. In 1995, 1.8% of the total consumption expenditure of households in the EU was devoted to these items. The share has been constantly decreasing since then to 1.1% in 2016.

In 2016, households in Slovakia devoted the largest share of their total expenditure to books, newspapers and stationery (2.1%). They were followed by households in Germany (1.6%) and Poland (1.4%).

At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest shares were recorded in Bulgaria and Greece (both 0.6%), the Czech Republic, Spain and Malta (all 0.7%).

In Finland, 16.8% of the population surveyed recorded reading books as one of the activities they spent time on (as "main activity"). They were followed by Poland (16.4%), Estonia (15.0%), Greece and Luxembourg (both 11.9%).

At the opposite end of the scale, France (2.6%), Romania (6.2%), Austria (7.2%) and Belgium (7.9%) had the lowest share of respondents reading books.

In Serbia, 8% of the subjects cited book-reading as the main activity, whereas 10% of the population surveyed in Turkey and 18% in Norway could be said to be bookworms, according to Eurostat.

Those who reported that they read books spent an average time reading ranging from 1 hour 1 minute per day in France to 1 hour 37 minutes in Hungary.

In all countries, the share of book readers is higher among women than among men. However, men who read books read for longer periods of time than women.

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Eurostat