[Book View]That Is Not Real Reading

Publishers Association's Reading Survey Obscures the Essence
Focus Should Be on "How" We Read, Not Just "How Much"

Recently, the Korea Publishing and Reading Policy Research Institute, under the Korean Publishers Association, released the results of a unique reading survey. The survey, conducted with 1,000 adults aged 19 and older, found that the adult reading rate in 2024 was 87.8%. This figure is more than double the 43% reported in the 2023 National Reading Survey by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

According to the report, the medium most read by adults was printed books, followed by webtoons (41.4%), e-books (37.5%), and magazines or webzines (34.9%). The average amount read per person was 5.4 printed books, 1.4 e-books, 35.7 episodes of web novels, 42.8 episodes of webtoons, 0.8 audiobooks, 1.1 issues of magazines or webzines, and 0.9 academic papers.

The institute stated that the purpose of this survey was "to correct the distorted perception that Korea's reading rate is among the lowest in the world." It also pointed out that systematic reading surveys like those in Korea are rare overseas, and that many OECD countries have not conducted such surveys in the past decade. Therefore, it explained that simple comparisons with countries using different survey cycles and methods are meaningless.

For this survey, the institute defined the concepts of "reading" and "publishing" more broadly than before. The key change was the inclusion of media such as comics, webtoons, exam preparation books, academic papers, and magazines, which had been excluded from previous surveys. As a result, there is a significant gap between the government's 2023 survey result (reading rate of 43%) and the Publishers Association's 2025 survey result (87.8%).

The Publishers Association defines publishing content as "publications containing written works or illustrations, published on paper or electronic media," in accordance with Article 2 of the Publishing Industry Promotion Act and Article 63 of the Copyright Act. Under this standard, webtoons, magazines, academic papers, as well as textbooks, study guides, and exam preparation books are all classified as "books." By considering almost all media with printed text as books, the absolute amount of reading has increased significantly.

The intention of the Publishers Association is clear: the notion that "Korea's reading rate is among the lowest in the world" is an unfounded claim. However, this approach risks obscuring the true essence of reading culture. A low reading rate is not simply a sign that "Koreans read fewer books" but rather a prompt to reflect on "what kinds of books are being read and how." Attempts to artificially inflate these numbers are akin to boosting grades just to avoid discouraging children. Is this really a meaningful way to foster the development of the reading ecosystem?

In major international reading surveys, it is rare to explicitly include textbooks, study guides, or exam preparation books, and even rarer to include academic papers. If the standards for what counts as a book are loosened excessively, even UNESCO's definition of a book-"a non-periodical publication of at least 49 pages, excluding the cover"-could be undermined.

The complacent view that "buying a book, even without reading it, is part of reading" has already spread widely throughout Korean society. Now is the time to answer the fundamental question: "What should be called a book?" Including textbooks that are required reading in the education system as part of reading is merely a way to dress up the numbers by changing the criteria. If only the figures change while the reality remains the same, that is not real change but an illusion. For reading culture to truly grow, reflection on "how we read" must come before "how much we read."