Luxembourg boasts the highest book-reading population of any European country, according to new research from Eurostat.
Using 2022 data, the study found that Luxembourg boasts the highest percentage (75.2%) of individuals that had read a book in the past year, putting it ahead of Denmark (72.1%) and Estonia (70.1%).
At the other end of the scale, just 29.5% of individuals in Romania had read a book in the previous 12 months, according to Eurostat’s findings, along with just over a third (33.1%) in Cyprus and 35.4% in Italy.
However, in terms of the number of books read over a 12 month period, Ireland leads the way, with the country boasting the highest percentage (25.9%) of individuals that had read 10 books or more.
Finland (22.7%) follows closely behind, followed by Sweden (21.5%), France (19.8%) and Estonia (19.7%).
More than half the EU population
In 2022, 52.8% of the European Union population aged 16 years or older reported reading books within the past 12 months, according to Eurostat data.
Among age groups, the youngest (16-29 years) had the highest reading rate at 60.1%, followed by those aged 30-54 at 53.5%, 55-64 at 52.6%, and those 65 and older at 47.2%.
Women in the EU were more likely to read books than men, with 60.5% of women reporting they had read a book compared to 44.5% of men. This pattern persisted across the number of books read: 28.8% of women and 24.8% of men read fewer than 5 books, 14.3% of women and 9.8% of men read 5-9 books, and 17.4% of women and 9.9% of men read 10 or more books.
Read more: What percentage of the EU population doesn’t read books?
Book reading percentages in European Union countries, 2022 (%)
| Country | Less than 5 books (%) | From 5 to 9 books (%) | 10 books or more (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 32.6 | 15.0 | 16.2 |
| Belgium | 24.0 | 16.7 | 19.3 |
| Bulgaria | 19.4 | 10.4 | 7.9 |
| Croatia | 21.9 | 11.9 | 8.3 |
| Cyprus | 21.3 | 7.1 | 4.7 |
| Czechia | 31.8 | 15.2 | 17.2 |
| Denmark | 36.1 | 16.4 | 19.6 |
| Estonia | 35.0 | 16.0 | 19.7 |
| Finland | 31.1 | 15.8 | 22.7 |
| France | 27.9 | 14.0 | 19.8 |
| Germany | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Greece | 30.7 | 7.8 | 4.5 |
| Hungary | 29.9 | 12.2 | 10.2 |
| Ireland | 27.9 | 12.3 | 25.9 |
| Italy | 15.5 | 8.6 | 11.3 |
| Latvia | 21.1 | 15.2 | 14.0 |
| Lithuania | 28.7 | 13.3 | 10.4 |
| Luxembourg | 43.4 | 13.8 | 18.0 |
| Malta | 26.9 | 8.1 | 8.8 |
| Netherlands | 29.5 | 20.2 | 17.6 |
| Poland | 23.7 | 13.5 | 17.4 |
| Portugal | 29.3 | 7.5 | 5.1 |
| Romania | 19.9 | 6.5 | 3.1 |
| Slovakia | 29.3 | 10.9 | 7.7 |
| Slovenia | 28.7 | 13.2 | 17.5 |
| Spain | 34.3 | 10.8 | 9.1 |
| Sweden | 31.2 | 17.0 | 21.5 |
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