A new Reading Agency report, State of the Nation in Adult Reading 2025, has revealed "a growing reading crisis," especially among younger adults, who report distraction as one of the most common barriers to reading for pleasure in the U.K., the Bookseller reported.
According to the research, 46% of U.K. adults say they struggle to focus on reading due to distractions around them, a number that rises to over half of those surveyed between the ages of 16 and 44.
"Distraction is now such a dominant part of daily life that one in three adults (33%) shared that they're multitasking while reading--whether commuting, exercising or doing household chores," the Reading Agency noted. While the number of U.K. adults who say they read regularly has dropped to 53%, down from 58% in 2015, the missed opportunity is huge."
Karen Napier, CEO of the Reading Agency, said: "We're living in a world full of noise--constant pings, feeds, and to-do lists. Reading can be a lifeline, but only if we can carve out the headspace for it."
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Aotearoa New Zealand's reading rates "are remaining steady--and even increasing in some areas," according to results from The National Reading Survey, commissioned by Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. The report shows a slight increase in the number of adults who have read a book in the last year: 87%, equivalent to around 3.3 million New Zealand adults, representing a slight rise from 85% in 2021, with the data since 2017 remaining relatively steady overall.
"We're very pleased to see that reading rates amongst New Zealanders are so stable overall," said Juliet Blyth, Read NZ Te Pou Muramura CEO. "It counteracts many of the international narratives we hear about reading for pleasure in decline, and demonstrates that Aotearoa is still a nation of readers."
The survey noted that an outlier segment of the research, with a drop from 87% having read a book in the past year to 82%, is the 18- to 24-year-old demographic.
"This is an interesting shift," Blyth observed, "as last time we surveyed more of this age group were reading than people aged between 25 and 44." With 39% of this category saying they don't like reading, this represents "a great challenge for the organization," Blyth added. "We're committed to helping young people engage with reading in non-traditional ways."
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Bookseller moment: Posted on Facebook Wednesday by Otherland Bookstore, a sci-fi and fantasy bookseller in Berlin, Germany: "Yesterday we gave an interview to a Chinese journalist in Otherland for World Book Day and when he learned that Liu Cixin (author of Trilosaris) was already with us for a reading [in 2018], he wrote to him... to make a statement about Otherland and World Book Day.... here's Cixin Liu's answer."
Xinhua reported that the Hugo Award-winning author (The Three-Body Problem) praised Otherland as "a steadfast beacon, guiding every soul who yearns to draw wisdom from the boundless sea of knowledge.... [Liu] expressed his hope that the bookstore will continue to share the charm of reading with ever more people--through inspiring events and exceptional books--letting the light of knowledge illuminate the distant horizons of every seeking soul." --Robert Gray