With just slightly over 100 titles read in 2017, I consider myself to be an avid reader. I know that some book bloggers read WAY more books than that, but still… I consider myself an avid reader. My husband thinks I’m nuts. If he read ONE book a year it would be worth shouting about!
So… I thought I’d see if I really WAS an avid reader. To do this I started to research reading statistics. What I discovered may well shock and, in some cases, even appall you.
Since I live in Canada, I thought I’d start there. Here is a short report entitled “Canadian Readers by the numbers“. The report states that 88% of Canadians have read at least one book a year, with the number slightly less for Americans at 76%. At this point I’m starting to believe that my husband is the norm.
Then, I began to wonder how Canada fared when compared to the rest of the world. This graphic may astound you! (click on the graphics to visit the source site)
Which country reads the most? (hours per week info)
The following graph depicts the frequency of reading books in selected countries worldwide in 2017. During the survey, 30 percent of respondents from the United States stated that they read every day or most days.
Frequency of reading books in selected countries worldwide in 2017
Here is an infographic from 2016 which may interest you.
And… how about these numbers for the United States?
Fictionophile 
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Fascinating article, thanks! I do consider myself an avid reader, and in fact, was just published in the the Canadian Military Family magazine for their column for, you guessed it, the “Guest Avid Reader”!! 😉
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Well, I read around 5 books a week – more if I can, so I would say I am an avid reader. But these statistics are pretty shocking! I can’t say I’m surprised though… I have a habit of counting the number of people reading on my journey home from work, and it seems less than it used to be. Very sad!
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Wow! Five books per week is impressive. I can usually only read 2-3 per week – though compared to some people even I am an avid reader.
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Impressive, and a wee bit obsessive lol plus, very expensive habit!
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I’m definitely an avid reader lol!
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Thanks for the mention. ♥
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haha you started ‘reading’ to see how avid a reader you are 😛 Interesting statistics though 🙂
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As much as I hated long commutes to university and work, it gave me lots of time to read. Now that my commute is shorter, I don’t read as much – which is ironic, as I probably have more time to read! I’ve been doing the Day Zero Project challenge (101 goals in 1001 days) and as part of that, I’m trying to read a book starting with every letter of the alphabet. I’m currently at 14/26 letters – it’s been a good way to mop up any classic books I’ve missed over the years.
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Good luck with your alphabet challenge!
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I’d like to adjust the definition: avidity is not about quantity! If we have a habit that makes it a must to read a few lines before bed, at breakfast, on a bus, or on a work break: we are avid readers. If we are discussing books at blogs like this or at Goodreads, our avidity is strong! If we do not have a routine habit but luxuriate in reading at a beach or some other place as a treat: we are avid readers! It means loving to do something, whether it is a routine or a treat. Quantity is meaningless because it is informed by time, money, and book length.
I consider statistics meaningless too. I wasn’t consulted for it and I put in more hours than I ought to daily, at Goodreads. Were any of you? If they go by Kindle-type usage, that leaves me out and a lot of pro-physical book pepole I know. If they go by new purchases, that leaves me out too and I am sure I buy about 100 books per year. Pushing ourselves for contests is no more valid than the years I went without knowing about forums like this and before they arrived. I met a woman at a concert, bent over a “cozy mystery” until the star went onstage! She knew nothing about Goodreads or blogs. Please look to your passion for the answer. It is the accurate gauge, ladies!
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Brilliant post! My husband read a book that I suggested (a suggestion he requested) when we first started dating. He has since admitted it was the first book he’d ever read that hadn’t been assigned reading. Since then, he has listened to a few audiobooks, but ultimately, reading just isn’t his thing.
I used to think to be an avid reader, you had to read 100+ books a year, back when I wished a read more than 30 or so books a year, and thought everyone else was reading so much more than I was (now I read three times that much). If the average American reads 12 books annually, then comparatively speaking, 30 seems “avid”. In hindsight, it appears I was being a little tough on myself. 😀
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Thanks. I appreciate your comment Myndi. Seems we both have non-reader husbands…
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Some very interesting stats here. I was surprised about some of them, I really thought Canada would have been higher. I definitely consider myself an avid reader. I read everyday, usually for several hours. I read various genres at various age levels (i.e. picture books, YA, adult). Being a retired teacher librarian, I think pretty much everyone knows where I stand I read both ebooks and physical books and like both, but would not want to lose the chance to read a physical book. I use my library regularly as well as used book sales and purchase from stores. Thanks for sharing this.
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Thanks for weighing in Carla. I too thought Canada would rank higher. Such a privileged nation as Canada SHOULD be comprised of more readers.
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Absolutely!
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I don’t consider myself to be an avid reader, but I usually read 20-30 books a year. Your collection of statistics is very interesting.
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Using these statistics, your reading would certainly make you qualify for the adjective ‘avid’. Thanks for your comment.
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I’m an avid reader who lives with someone who only reads when we go on holiday – so maybe 2 Books a year against my 150 odd 😊
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That’s 2 more than my husband. LOL
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I was surprised to see India at the top of the list. Mostly because it’s per person and they have so many people there! I wonder about the methodology.
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Yes, I wonder too. Methodology can slant findings one way or the other.
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This is such an amazing post Lynne, I love it! 😍
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this is so fascinating!!! i knew that the numbers for reading were generally low, but i didn’t know the specifics and i definitely didn’t know much about the country by country breakdown(s). if i didn’t consider myself an avid reader before, i definitely do now 😮
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Fascinating post Lynne! The most I have been
able to read in a year is 96 but I so wanted to reach
that elusive 100. Last year I read 69 and
I was disappointed; hopefully, this year
I will do better🙃
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I don’t consider myself an avid reader by book blogger standards (you guys are AWE-inspiring), but I am doing my part to raise the US average.
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Hmmm Belgium doesn’t score so great.. 18th in literacy country and not so great in frequency of reading either.. which surprises me a little because there are big book groups on FB though and lots of people go hunting for books too (not English ones though but I don’t know if that’s got anything to do with it). Very interesting!
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Such a fascinating post!! I do consider myself an avid reader and agree that there seems to have been an explosion of more real books since the advent of e-books – or maybe that’s just because I’m taking more notice of all the releases!
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Personally, I’m quite reassured by these numbers as I’d feared they might be a lot worse what with the rise of social media and streaming of films, TV, etc. The stat I’d really like to see is how many books Trump read last year, lol. I’d definitely class myself as an avid reader – 160 books last year and the same target for this year. Mind you, my reading has increased since I’ve started blogging. The year before I started my blog I read half as many books.
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Such an interesting post. I am avid reader.
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I’m disappointed but not surprised by the UK’s ranking.
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Most of my reading done prior to read for review was instructional, either thru classes or internet. I’m still doing that.
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This was so interesting!! I also find it funny how many people are shocked by US stats, when I’m from the UK and in a lot of ways we seem to be doing way worse! Our literacy rate in particular is shocking!
(and yes I think you count as an avid reader 😉 )
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This is honestly fascinating. I think the most depressing number for me is that 27% of people who haven’t picked up a book in the past twelve months. Even so, while the numbers here are likely incredibly accurate, I wonder what the difference would be if we took out those who, sure, aren’t reading books exactly, but are reading large numbers of news articles each day.
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This is so interesting Lynne! I’m truly shocked the US ranks so low in quite a few areas. I’m in the 6% of digital readers:) I definitely consider myself an avid reader, I read the most books ever last year (93) and I’m thrilled with that number
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Some interesting and surprising facts here – I only read about 50 books last year, but I do consider myself an avid reader! 100 books in a year is impressive!
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Very interesting, perhaps I should start target marketing my book in Finland. I read 27 books last year and thought that was a lot.
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Hi Lynne. In a million years I’d never have guessed that Don Quixote is the best-selling book of all time.
Loads of fascinating info in this article.
I read quite a bit, but books don’t make up as high a percentage of my total reading as they used to. Last year I read about eight books I think.
Take care —
Neil
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Great, insightful post, Lynne!
I was really surprised with those numbers. I thought the number of books read would be much higher. Very interesting.
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This is fascinating-thanks for sharing!
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I do consider myself an avid reader. Last year I read just over 200 books. It’s actually why I started my blog. There weren’t enough people to talk to about books! Now that I see the stats I guess i shouldn’t be surprised. Actually I’m kind of horrified at the low stats for the US. This was eye opening thanks for posting it!
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This was really interesting. I do think finding the amount of people who don’t understand their prescription labels to be… interesting. I wonder if the people answering were considering the “take 2 tablets every day” or the medicine names.
Also, I read more about the above infographic and have a hard time believing it. I’d love to see their data, what materials they considered reading. If it was “reading books for fun” I think I would agree, but it never states that, and I think if textbook/school reading was included the amount of reading would shoot up.
Nice post 🙂
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Thanks for your comment Sionna. I agree that it would be interesting to see where the data was culled from. If you click on the graphics, you will go to the site I got them from, but many do not elaborate on their data collection methods.
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Some very surprising stats! (and some not so surprising – that the Scandi-Nordic countries lead the literacy tables). I’m aiming for 100 books this year (I’ve never kept track before so I have nothing to compare with), and I’m surprised at some of the low figures. I wonder if this has changed much over the last couple of decades – books seem to be much more abundant and available now than when I was a child.
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Good luck with your 100 books challenge. You brought up an interesting point. Books DO seem to be more abundant now than when I was a child. More publishers, more writers, and hopefully more readers.
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