• Reading habits in the UK - adults and children
• Book buying

• A poll commissioned by Teletext in 2007 questioned 4,000 adult readers on their reading habits. The survey found the top 10 fiction books that Britons cannot finish are:

  1) Vernon God Little, D.B.C Pierre (35%)
  2) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K Rowling (32%)
  3) Ulysses, James Joyce (28%)
  4) Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis De Bernieres (27%)
  5) Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (24%)
  6) The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie (21%)
  7) The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho (19%)
  8) War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy (18%)
  9) The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy (16%)
  10) Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky (15%)

  Other results included the top reasons for not reading: too tired (48%); watch TV instead (46%); play computer games (26%); work late (21%).

• In a survey of 2,000 adults, a third had not bought a new book in the previous 12 months. 34% said they did not read books. (Expanding the Market, Book Marketing Ltd, 2004) More
• In June 2002, the ONS Omnibus survey included a module on reading habits commissioned by the National Reading Campaign. It found that nearly half of adults had read at least five books or more in the previous 12 months, with almost one in five claiming to have read 20 books or more.
• A quarter of adults had not read a book during the same period, including almost half of males aged between 16 and 24.
• Two out of five adults were encouraged to read a book by tips from friends and 16% said they acted on recommendations from work colleagues.
  

• 96% said they had read something in the past seven days, whether books, magazines, newspapers or text messages. Reading material varied according to age: 70% of 16 to 24-year-olds had read a magazine, compared to 59% of 55 to 64-year-olds; 33% of 16 to 24-year-olds had read fiction, compared to 43% of 55 to 64-year-olds. (Source: Office for National Statistics, 2002)

• An online survey of 1,432 workers, by the TUC for Quick Reads and World Book Day 2006, found that only 23% of UK workplaces have borrowing shelves or book clubs. However, more than nine in ten employees (91.4%) would consider using a borrowing shelf or joining a book club if one were to be set up at work. Even without borrowing schemes at work 83.9% share books with their colleagues. 55.2% of the 1432 people who responded read or listen to audiobooks on their way to work, with fictional titles the most popular (32.6%), closely followed by newspapers(22%). 55.3% find the time to read for leisure during their lunch breaks. But it is a lack of time for 62.1% that stops them from reading more.
  
• A survey of 4,000 people for the BBC RaW literacy campaign 2006, found that reading was an important activity for 79%, more popular than sex (69%), TV (67%) or computer games (15%). However, although 82% of the population say they enjoy their reading, a significant proportion, say they do not (17%).
  
• A survey of 1,000 people for Bedtime Reading Week 2002 found the most popular place to read was in bed (65% of the sample). 25% relax with a book in the bath, 10% take a book to the loo (mainly men), almost half like to read on holiday and a third read on the journey to work. Over a third of those interviewed said they wish they had more time to read. 
  

• A report for the 2008 National Year of Reading showed that 45% of teenagers have been told off by an adult for enjoying something that is not deemed to be ‘proper reading’. Some of the main findings to come out of the research also show that: 62% of teens say that they have liked reading something so much they have passed it on to a friend or family member; Harry Potter still features in the top 10, it also appears at number 8 least loved read; Boys are particularly practical in their approach, with 31% saying that they love reading because it helps them get better at their hobbies (e.g. sports, films or music). For more information on the report, entitled Read Up, Fed Up, visit www.yearofreading.org.uk/wikireadia/index.php?title=Read_up_fed_up_research_findings.
  
• In 2006, a survey by Bounty family marketing found that one third of children are never read a bedtime story. However, the survey also showed that 62% of parents do read to their children, despite a quarter of those having never been read to as children. More
  
• In 2003, the Nestle Family Monitor found that 83% of 11 to 18-year-olds read in their spare time, and 23% read everyday. 70% agreed that reading books helped them to become better writers.
  
• Nine out of ten mothers say they read to their offspring at least once a week. 70% say they do so every day.  (Source: Mori survey, 1999)
  
• In 1991, 25% of boys aged 14 and 15 reported reading a book for pleasure the previous evening. For girls of the same age, the figure was 35%. In 1998, the respective statistics were 18% and 22%. (Source: Schools Health Education Unit, Exeter University) 

Adults' attitudes towards reading
Children's attitudes towards reading
Reading habits - main index

For figures on book-buying, visit the Publishers Association website - www.publishers.org.uk

• Spending on books in Britain has increased by more than £500 million between 1993 and 1999, and is continuing to grow faster than anywhere else in Europe.
• Britons spent more than £2.6 billion a year on books in 1999, with 23% going on paperbacks and the rest on hardbacks.
• The top ten paperbacks in the UK are more expensive than their equivalents in the US and Germany. Average prices November 1999. UK: £6.44, US: £4.45, Germany: £5.76. (Source: Market analyst, Euromonitor)