Teenagers: frequency of reading books Germany 2023

German teenage book reading frequency depends on age groups. 37 percent of 12- to 13-year-olds read daily or several times a week, according to a recent survey. It seems that teenagers in the age group 14- to 15-years-old read the most often. The share of teenagers, who don't read at all, is largest in the age group of 18- to 19- year-olds, with around a quarter of them never indulging in reading.

Nose stuck in a book?

Among the population (aged 14 and older), 14.4 million read books several times a week during their free time, compared to 17.8 million people who do so less than once a month. Generally, the number of people reading books daily or several times a week was dropping year after year. A growing number of people state that they do not buy books, though those who do mainly buy paperbacks. This may be attributed to digitalization hitting the book industry and the understandable appeal of e-readers to an increasingly mobile nation.

Next chapter

The German book market is forecast to experience stable revenue development in the coming years, with the fiction segment generating the most, in comparison to textbooks and nonfiction. Changing consumption habits among readers and the rise of mobile devices and e-readers will continue to influence and change the book market.

How often do you read a book?

Characteristic	Daily, several times a week	Between once a week and once every two weeks	Once a month or less	Never
-	-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-	-

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Source

Use Ask Statista Research Service

Release date

November 2023

More information

Region

Germany

Survey time period

May 30th to July 9th, 2023

Number of respondents

1,200 teenagers

Age group

12-19 years

Special properties

Only printed books

Method of interview

Telephone interview

Supplementary notes

JIM is a series of surveys published by the South-West Media Education Research Association (Medienpädagogische Forschungsbund Südwest), which is supported by the Regional Office for Communication Baden-Württemberg (Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg (LFK)) and the Regional Office for Media and Communication Rhineland-Palatinate (Landeszentrale für Medien und Kommunikation Rheinlandpfalz (LMK)). The surveys are developed in cooperation with SWR Media Research (SWR Medienforschung), the Association for Newspaper Market Research (Zeitungsmarktforschung Gesellschaft (ZMG)), the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung), as well as its regional offices in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, and the Reading Foundation (Stiftung Lesen).

The source does not provide information on the original wording used during the survey. Thus, the wording chosen for this statistic may differ slightly from the one in the survey.

Citation formats