National Reading Volume Drops Again... "Decline in Reading Rates Across All Age Groups Except Those in Their 20s"

According to the '2021 National Reading Status' conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the reading rate has decreased across all age groups except for those in their 20s.

Over the past year, the annual comprehensive reading rate for adults was 47.5%, and the annual comprehensive reading volume was 4.5 books. This means that about half of the population did not read a single book in a year, and those who did read averaged 4.5 books. These figures represent a decrease of 8.2 percentage points and 3 books respectively compared to 2019. However, the reading rate among young adults in their 20s (aged 19 to under 29) increased by 0.3 percentage points to 78.1% compared to 2019. On the other hand, elementary, middle, and high school students had an annual comprehensive reading rate of 91.4% and an annual comprehensive reading volume of 34.4 books, showing a decrease of 0.7 percentage points in reading rate and 6.6 books in reading volume compared to last year.

The paper book reading rate was 40.7% for adults and 87.4% for students, decreasing by 11.4 percentage points and 3.3 percentage points respectively compared to 2019. In contrast, the e-book reading rate showed an increasing trend, with adults at 19% and students at 49.1%, up by 2.5 percentage points and 11.9 percentage points respectively from 2019. The audiobook reading rate was 4.5% for adults and 14.3% for students; adults showed a slight increase of 1 percentage point, while students decreased by 4.4 percentage points compared to 2019.

Adults cited the biggest reason for difficulty in reading as 'no time due to work' (26.5%), followed by 'use of other media/content' (26.2%). The response rate for 'use of other media/content,' which was the biggest obstacle in 2019, slightly decreased (29.1% → 26.2%). However, students responded that 'using smartphones, television, internet games, etc.' (23.7%) was the biggest obstacle to reading.

The reading rate among the elderly significantly declined. Those in their 50s had a reading rate of 35.7% (a decrease of 9.2 percentage points compared to 2019), and those aged 60 and above had a rate of 23.8% (a decrease of 8.6 percentage points compared to 2019), showing a continuous downward trend among middle-aged and elderly groups. There was also a large regional gap among the elderly. The comprehensive reading rate of adults living in eup/myeon (township/rural) areas was 22.3 percentage points lower than that of residents in metropolitan areas. In contrast, among elementary, middle, and high school students, the gap in major reading indicators between regions was found to be small.

A policy official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated, "Based on the results of this survey, we plan to strengthen reading programs across the life cycle from infants to the elderly and promote reading culture campaigns linked to events such as the '2022 Year of Youth Books' and the '2022 Korea Reading Festival.' We will also actively develop policy projects for socially excluded groups in reading activities and steadily implement support policies for the spread of digital book content, which is a major policy task of the '3rd Basic Plan for Reading Culture Promotion (2019?2023).'"

The National Reading Status survey is conducted biennially, and this survey was conducted nationwide from September 1 to November 12, 2021. For adults, the survey was conducted through household visits and interviews, while students completed the questionnaire themselves during school visits. The '2021 National Reading Status Survey' report is available on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism website.