EU citizens have a love-hate relationship with books, with nearly half unable to get through a single full book over a full year, while in some countries the average is ten books or more.
Nearly half of EU citizens – 47.2%- don’t read a single book over a period of twelve months, according to a Eurostat survey.
Romanians read the least, with less than a third of the country being book readers (29.5%), with Cyprus (33.1%) and Italy (35.4%) not far behind.
The most avid EU readers were the Irish, with 26% of them saying they read ten books or more over a one-year period, followed by Finland (22.7%), Sweden (21.5%) and France (19.8%).
In absolute terms, the highest share of EU citizens who read books (at least one per year) was reported in Luxembourg (75.2%), followed by Denmark (72.1%) and Estonia (70.7%).
Younger generations read more than the old
The survey also shows the younger generation – people aged 16 to 29 – to be the most passionate readers, as 60% of them read at least one book per year.
On the other hand, the 65-plus group reported the lowest rate (47%).
The discrepancy between men and women is even larger, as 60.5% of women read books compared to just 44.5% of men.
Book sales revenues in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA) totalled approximately €23.9bn in 2022, according to a survey released in 2024 by the Federation of European Publishers.
That marks a 23.6% jump from 2021, although there were “mixed outcomes across countries,” with the largest turnovers coming in Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain.
Around 575,00 new titles were published in 2022 alone.
