Bookworms of Europe and the gender reading gap
Hello, hello, it’s Veronika from the communications team, and today we'll talk about reading!
Last Thursday, April 23, was World Book Day, a celebration for and of readers worldwide, conceived by UNESCO, and celebrated every year since 1995. To mark the day and celebrate in style, I decided to learn more about our reading habits. Do we still read books these days? How many? And who are the most avid readers among us?
Lucky for me, reading happens to be one of the many, many things tracked by Eurostat, the statistical heart of the European Union. While this year, the office marked World Book Day by highlighting higher sales of e-books and audiobooks in 2025 (but don't worry: print books are likely still in the lead!), I want to return to an earlier publication.
In 2022, Eurostat polled people across the EU on their reading habits, and they found this: Europeans read more when they're young than they do in their old age, and women read more than men.
The former, especially, makes sense. Most young people are students (which itself involves reading), and they have more free time. That is why I was more interested in the gap between men's and women's reading habits.
Does the EU average represent all countries, or is it hiding pronounced country-to-country differences? And what about the overlap of age and gender? Are young women the ultimate bookworms?
The answer is yes! While there are considerable differences between countries, with the average percentage of active readers ranging from 30 to 80%, in every surveyed country, there are more women readers than men.
The smallest differences were recorded in countries where reading was already rare. The largest difference was found in Slovakia, where two-thirds of women read at least one book in the previous 12 months, but only one-third of men did. This reading gap between men and women stays consistent throughout adulthood, and only narrows at the age of 65 and above.
The massive reading gender gap, which holds true across countries and age groups, shouldn't be taken lightly. Whether we read historical, scientific, or romantic fiction, reading nurtures essential skills, such as critical thinking, clear communication, and our capacity for empathy, all irreplaceable in today's world and relationships.
(I'll keep that in mind next time I reach for my phone instead of a book. 🫣)
Note: The survey results have clear limits, including a few missing data points and the binary gender categories that don't reflect the habits of people who don't identify as (only) either male or female. The data also reflect the state of Europeans' reading habits in 2022, and may have changed since then.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s Weekly and celebrated World Book Day with a few pages of a good book. If not, there’s still time. Every day can be a book day if you make it one!
