Books burn Poles. We read not because we want, but we have to

In 2024, 41 percent declared reading at least one book. respondents. This result is similar to that of 2023 (43 percent). Women (47 percent) still read more often than men (35 percent) – according to the National Library report on the state of reading of books in Poland in 2024.

The authors of the report estimated that reading books in Poland stabilized at a level above 40 percent.

“In 2024, 41 percent of respondents declared reading at least one book in the twelve months preceding the study. Considering the permissible statistical error of measurement, this is the result at the level recorded in 2023. Therefore, one can talk about stabilizing the level of book reading at a level more than before 2023.” – written.

It was noted that the fact that “reading books is at a relatively high level should not lead to a conclusion about the intensity of reading practices.” The percentage of people who read seven or more books per year is 7 percent.

The report shows that the social conditions of the examined phenomenon have not changed. It is read because of the external coercion related to learning or work performed, but also because you want to do it. For obvious reasons, this group, in which one can speak of a reading obligation, are people who study and study. Books are read by 67 percent of them, with the percentage of readers of at least 7 books is clearly higher than in the entire population and amounts to 12 percent.

It was emphasized that “in any social group reading books is not a common practice.” However, books (47 percent) read more often than men (35 percent).

Youth, youth aged 15-18 (54 percent) reads the most, the least-people over 70 years old (25 %).

Most often, respondents in cities over 500 thousand reach for reading. residents, i.e. in Warsaw, Krakow, Wrocław, Łódź and Poznań (51 percent). “This is associated not only with the structure of education and the dominant types of professional activity, but also with greater availability of bookstores, antique shops and libraries. Reading in the largest cities is also influenced by the location of large academic centers in them” – explained in the report.

The least readers are among the inhabitants of villages and cities up to 20,000 residents (36 percent).

Shopping dominates among the sources of read books – made both stationary and online. Libraries are most often used by young people, especially learning and studying. We still read books primarily in paper form – only every twentieth reader mentions at least one book that he was dealing with on the screen of a computer or mobile device.

Reading books – both paper and ebooks – is not the dominant form of contact with the text. Two -thirds of the respondents declare the custom of reading complex texts in electronic form. Reading longer texts (such as press articles, encyclopedic slogans, etc.) on computer screens, tablets and smartphones is more frequent than reading books in every age group.

As before, most often Poles read popular literature, especially sensational and criminal, then romance-moral. Criminal novels and stories are read by people from all social circles and different generations, although relatively young people are the least eagerly reaching for them.

Among the authors of the most -read books in 2024 were: Remigiusz Mróz, Harlan Coben, Jo Nesbo, JK Rowling and Henryk Sienkiewicz.

The authors of the report also pointed out that in 2024 there was a historical report among the most-read books-a popular science work in the field of social history “Peasants. The story of our grandmothers” by our grandmothers “by Joanna Kuciel-Frydryszak.

“The spectacular popularity of this book is an echo of a wider phenomenon that makes itself felt in many fields of culture, which consists in the interest in the story seen from the perspective of disadvantaged groups, whose voice was so far poorly heard” – explained.

The National Library has been conducting systematic research of book reading for over three decades. As in previous years, in 2024 the survey was carried out using the CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interview) method at the nationwide rehearsal of representative Polish women and Poles aged at least 15 years old. This attempt had 2025 people and was constructed ad hoc, i.e. for the use of this specific project. The field stage of the study was carried out by Research Collective. (PAP)

KSI/ DKI/