Top 30 Countries by Reading Rate Ranked
Reading rates vary widely across countries, even among nations with similar income levels and education systems.
In high reading countries, over 80 percent of adults report reading at least one book per year, while in lower ranked markets the share often falls below 55 percent.
These differences are not random. They strongly correlate with education policy, public library access, cultural norms, and leisure time patterns.
The ranking below compares countries based on the share of adults who report reading books at least occasionally, typically defined as reading at least one book within the past 12 months.
Key reading rate statistics
- In the United States, 48.5% of adults said they read at least one book for pleasure in the year leading up to mid 2022.
- That figure was 52.7% in 2017 and 54.6% about a decade earlier, showing a steady slide in pleasure reading over time.
- In the same NEA dataset, only 37.6% of adults reported reading a novel or short story in 2022, down from 41.8% in 2017 and 45.2% in 2012.
- A separate Pew survey found 75% of US adults had read a book in any format in the past 12 months, while 23% said they had not read a book at all.
- Gallup reports Americans say they read 12.6 books on average in the prior year, the lowest average Gallup has recorded in its trend going back decades.
- Gallup also found 27% of Americans reported reading more than 10 books in the past year, down compared with earlier readings of the same measure.
- Time use data shows a stark age split: on an average day, Americans 75 and older spent 46 minutes reading for personal interest, while ages 15 to 19 spent 8 minutes.
- Analysis covered by the Financial Times reports the share of Americans who read for enjoyment on an average day fell from 28% in 2003 to 16% in 2023, a drop of more than 40%.
- In the UK, a YouGov poll reported 40% of Britons had not read or listened to a book in the past year, and the median was three books.
- Student reading performance is also trending down: OECD PISA reports that compared with 2018, average performance fell by 10 score points in reading across participating systems.
- Globally, UNESCO reports the number of illiterate adults declined from 754 million in 2023 to 739 million in 2024, reflecting updated estimates and national data revisions.
Top 30 countries by reading rate (ranked)
Share of adults who report reading books at least occasionally
| Rank | Country | Adult reading rate | Year | Primary source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | 82–86% | 2022 | Statistics Norway |
| 2 | Sweden | 80–85% | 2022 | Nordic cultural surveys |
| 3 | Finland | 78–82% | 2022 | Finnish Reading Studies |
| 4 | Netherlands | 76–78% | 2022 | Dutch cultural surveys |
| 5 | Japan | 77–79% | 2022 | Agency for Cultural Affairs |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 74–76% | 2023 | YouGov |
| 7 | Australia | 73–75% | 2022 | Australia Council for the Arts |
| 8 | United States | 75% | 2023 | Pew Research Center |
| 9 | Canada | 71–73% | 2022 | BookNet Canada |
| 10 | Germany | 68–70% | 2022 | Börsenverein, Statista |
| 11 | France | 68–72% | 2022 | Centre National du Livre |
| 12 | South Korea | 62–65% | 2022 | Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism |
| 13 | Austria | 65–68% | 2022 | Statistik Austria |
| 14 | Switzerland | 66–69% | 2022 | Federal Statistical Office |
| 15 | Spain | 64–66% | 2022 | Ministerio de Cultura |
| 16 | Belgium | 63–66% | 2022 | Eurobarometer |
| 17 | Ireland | 65–67% | 2022 | Arts Council Ireland |
| 18 | Poland | 60–63% | 2023 | Biblioteka Narodowa |
| 19 | Italy | 59–61% | 2022 | ISTAT |
| 20 | Czech Republic | 58–61% | 2022 | Czech Statistical Office |
| 21 | Portugal | 57–60% | 2022 | DGLAB |
| 22 | Hungary | 55–58% | 2022 | Hungarian Central Statistical Office |
| 23 | Greece | 52–55% | 2022 | Hellenic Statistical Authority |
| 24 | Slovakia | 53–56% | 2022 | Statistical Office of Slovakia |
| 25 | Latvia | 54–57% | 2022 | Central Statistical Bureau |
| 26 | Lithuania | 52–55% | 2022 | Statistics Lithuania |
| 27 | Romania | 50–53% | 2022 | Eurobarometer |
| 28 | Bulgaria | 49–52% | 2022 | Eurobarometer |
| 29 | Turkey | 46–49% | 2022 | Turkish Statistical Institute |
| 30 | Mexico | 45–48% | 2022 | INEGI |
How should reading rate rankings be interpreted?
Before looking at the ranking, one methodological note matters.
There is no single global survey that measures reading habits identically in all countries. As a result:
- Definitions of “reading” usually include print and ebooks, sometimes audiobooks
- Survey years differ slightly by country
- Percentages are best interpreted as ranges, not exact points
This ranking follows the approach used by OECD and UNESCO when comparing cultural participation across countries.
What explains differences in reading rates?
Several structural factors consistently appear across countries:
- Public library density strongly correlates with higher reading rates
- Education systems that emphasize early reading show higher adult participation
- Nordic countries combine cultural norms with free access to books
- Lower reading rates are often associated with shorter leisure time and weaker book retail infrastructure
Importantly, lower reading rates do not necessarily imply low literacy. In many countries, reading is replaced by other media consumption, not by illiteracy.
Sources
- Pew Research Center, Who doesn’t read books in America?
- YouGov, How many Britons read books?
- OECD, Education at a Glance
- UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Literacy and reading indicators
- Statistics Norway, Cultural participation survey
- Centre National du Livre, Les Français et la lecture
- Biblioteka Narodowa, Stan czytelnictwa w Polsce
- Eurobarometer, Cultural access and participation
A writer who loves books, travel, and finding stories hidden in data. While writing is her main passion, her interest in numbers led her to focus on data-driven content. Her work has appeared in Forbes, CNN, Travel + Leisure, and Yahoo. The Little Prince is her all-time favorite, with the Harry Potter series close behind.
