The average American reader read 12 books a year, according to a new report from Pew Research.
The data, which was released on Sept. 1st, revealed that 73 percent of Americans had read at least one book in the last year. This number was pretty consistent with 2015, in which 72 percent of the population reported reading at least one book.
Americans tend to prefer print. Some 65 percent read a print book in the last year, while only 28 percent read an ebook and even less, 14 percent, listened to an audio book. Twenty-eight percent of Americans read books in both print and digital formats and 38 percent read print books only. Just 6 percent of readers read only digital books. Here is more from the Pew site:
Relatively few Americans are “digital-only” book readers regardless of their demographic characteristics. However, some demographic groups are slightly more likely than others to do all of their reading in digital format. For instance, 7% of college graduates are digital-only book readers (compared with just 3% of those who have not graduated from high school), as are 8% of those with annual household incomes of $75,000 or more (compared with 3% of Americans with incomes of $30,000 or less). Interestingly, young adults are no more likely than older adults to be “digital-only” book readers: 6% of 18- to 29-year-olds read books in digital formats only, compared with 7% of 30- to 49-year-olds and 5% of those 50 and older.