One of the main goals of the Erasmus+ project EU-READ&ART is to Increase the number of EU readers. But what do statistics reveal about the percentage of book readers in the past years? The editing and proofreading company Global English Editing answered this question (and more) with a detailed infographic about reading habits in 2021.
The infographic shows which countries read the most, what they read, and how the ongoing pandemic has impacted reading habits worldwide. The pandemic has in fact caused a decrease in the literacy rate in developing countries, causing children to fall behind in literacy skills because of school closings.
However, the youth are more literate than adults, thanks to more schools and early child development programs being made available to the younger generations. Although it’s encouraging to see adult literacy rates increasing year on year (albeit marginally), literacy levels in low-income countries are still well below the global average of 86%.
Thanks to its international dimension, the Cooperation Partnership of EU-READ&ART aims at empowering literacy skills of adult learners through various activities like reading labs with the objective of transferring love to the action of reading but also creativity and passion for art by the creation of artistic expressions like book trailers.
Other interesting findings:
66% of readers “believe printed books offer a more unique and fulfilling reading experience than e-books.”
More than half (50-53%) of kids between the ages of 6-17 borrow books from school or public libraries.
Of all the generations, Millennials read the most books
Check out the full infographic to discover everything you need to know about worldwide reading habits within the past year. Happy reading!
Author: Francesca Politi - JUMP Team