What percentage of people in America read books?

Question

A persentage and #s would be great.

Answer 1

It depends on what types of books you mean, of course. Apparently some 56% read at least one book of some sort each year. Less than 50% read literature (fiction, poetry, drama).

"Literary reading is in dramatic decline with fewer than half of American adults now reading literature, according to a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) survey released [in 2002]. Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America reports drops in all groups studied, with the steepest rate of decline - 28 percent - occurring in the youngest age groups." [1]

"The findings in the report show a steady drop, over two decades, in the percentage of Americans who read books OF ANY SORT [caps mine] -- with a much steeper decline in the consumption of literature. . . . In 1992, for example, 60.9 percent of those surveyed indicated that they had read a book of some sort during the previous year. By 2002, that figure had shrunk to 56.6 percent, a decline of 7 percent." [2]

"The most important factor in literacy reading rates is education, the report shows. Only 14 percent of adults with a grade school education read literature in 2002. By contrast, more than five times as many respondents with a graduate school education - 74 percent - read literary works." [1]

The report itself has a lot of other data, and is a part of the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, conducted by the Census Bureau in 2002 at the NEA' s request. It can be download from this site as a PDF. [3]

Answer 2

25% Have read a book, 10% read books on a regular basis, 65% read porno magazines and the rest are up with the cock in the morning. And down with the tonight show at night.

Answer 3

I tried to look it up for you, but I couldn't find anything... hm...less than other countries for sure.