In the modern world, a book as a paper medium can no longer be considered a priority and the only source of knowledge. For young people, the age of electronic technology and the development of perception of information through all the senses of the audiobook, film adaptation or performance occupy approximately the same position.
Nevertheless, it is pleasant to realize that the value of reading is not lost, and Russia remains a reading country. Although we are not in the first place, various studies and polls delight us with optimistic ratings.
Rating rated discord
As the famous proverb says, how many tastes are so many opinions. What teens read, adults will not read, and vice versa. With regard to research and the compilation of top ratings, this principle reflects the variety of options for setting primary tasks. There is a rating of the most reading countries, which takes as a basis the number of hours spent by residents on reading books in a certain period of time. And another survey will compile a list based on such a criterion as the number of books that have been read in the last month or are currently being read. Book publishers will offer a sales rating, and providers will offer the number of downloads of content. Aesthetes will try to determine the respondents' favorite books.
Most popular questionnaire
Today, the GfK International Institute for Marketing Research is considered the largest public opinion research platform in the world. An online survey conducted by this company in February 2017 showed that Russia confidently entered the top three in terms of the amount of time spent reading.
The most-read country in the world, according to this survey, is China. The study involved 17 countries and a dozen leaders whose citizens read every day or at least once a week (this was the control question). The rating is as follows:
- China (70%);
- Russia (59%);
- Spain (57%);
- Italy (56%) and the United Kingdom (56%);
- United States (55%);
- Argentina and Brazil (53%);
- Mexico (52%);
- Canada (51%).
The smallest number of respondents answered positively to the security question in South Korea and Belgium - 37% each.
Global trends identified by the survey
The survey showed gender equality. This means that both women (32%) and men (27%) read books daily or almost daily. The rich read more often (35%) than the poor (24%).
On average, around the world, the number of people who read books at least once a week is 50.7%. However, it should be noted that 22 thousand respondents from 17 countries took part in the survey. This is not the largest sample for the objectivity of statistics.
Book lovers according to the World Culture Score Index (2016)
This international rating takes as the basis for its research the number of hours per week spent by residents reading books:
- According to this study, the most reading country in the world is in Asia, and this is India, where the average Indian spends 10 hours and 22 minutes reading. This country reads a lot in both Indian and English.
- Thais took the second position (9 hours 24 minutes). In Thailand, they also read in many languages, and among the most popular authors mention the Thai poet of the traditional style of Naovoat Fongpeibun.
- China is in third place with 8 hours of reading per week. The most favorite books here are historical novels and books on the history of the republic. Very popular biography of Steve Jobs.
- Russia is in 7th place (7 hours and 6 minutes) after the Philippines, Egypt and the Czech Republic. What do they read in Russia? Our compatriots prefer Turgenev, Gogol, Akunin, Swift and Dumas, and in approximately equal proportions.
- Sweden and France divided the 8th and 9th position with their reading time at 6 hours 54 minutes.
- And Hungary closes the list of the most reading countries in the world, where residents read 6 hours 48 minutes a week.
Interestingly, Russians read 2 hours more than Americans. This is a pretty interesting poll, isn't it?
Questionnaire of the electronic PayPal platform
A survey in ten countries, conducted jointly by the PayPal platform and SuperData, focused on the amount of downloaded content. The study involved Russia, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland, USA, Japan and other countries.
The data showed that the most reading country in the world is Russia. 33% of survey participants in our country read e-books every day, another 30% read 4 to 6 days a week. The cheapness of an e-book is a top priority among 61% of Russians. The rest in priority indicated the availability of rare books. The most favorite genres were fiction, thrillers and mysticism. More often books are read from smartphones (54%), less often from laptops and tablets. Special electronic readers use 35% of readers.
An interesting fact: Russians more often listen to classical music than residents of other countries participating in the survey. Classical music was prioritized by 46% of our fellow citizens.
Booksellers look
Publishers and book distribution corporations have their own views on things. The Exmo-AST Publishing Group and the Bookvoed Book Network provide other data. According to their polls, Russians spend an average of 9 minutes reading a day, they spend one hour on the Web and watch TV for about two hours.
Book publishers believe that the real state of the reading nation needs to be assessed by sales in the book market. The numbers are more likely to indicate the opposite. So, in 2016, the book trade turnover amounted to 71 billion rubles, which is 12% less than in 2011.
But it is worth noting the growth in sales of electronic literary content: over the same period, sales of electronic books increased by 3 billion rubles. And this segment of the book market occupies only four percent of the entire book trade. Only one out of twenty consumers legally buy electronic content. And this problem also worries its owners.
Polls are not reliable. And then what?
So, the polls are not reliable enough in their limited sample and specificity of control questions. Sometimes a change in one word in a question can produce completely disparate results. And here anthropology with its scientific tools can come to the rescue. Under the guidance of the famous Russian scientist Mikhail Alekseevsky, the Center for Urban Anthropology conducted several large-scale studies in the field of interest to us. Very interesting trends emerged in the quality and quantity of the Russian reader.
It turned out that reading for our fellow citizens is endowed with symbolism and sacredness. The persistent stereotype that books cannot be destroyed pushes citizens to tricks such as storing them in garages and attics. But bookcrossing - a form of book exchange - is taking root in Russia slowly. The most valuable literature is considered to be the classics and those who read a lot, and those who do not read at all. The stereotype “classic is our everything” is reliably transmitted from generation to generation of Russians.
For the soul, our compatriots read fantasy, detective stories and other genres. But Russians do not consider this literature valuable. It turned out that the main factor affecting the readability in general is family traditions. What adults read is likely to be read by children.
Family Institute and Reading Value Translation
The family continues to fulfill the function of introducing reading value. But this is done purely for utilitarian reasons. It is necessary to read, because you will write correctly. You need to read a lot in order to graduate well and enter a good university.
A separate phenomenon is the social broadcasting of family addictions. The reading generation of post-Soviet intelligentsia influences the perception of youth. According to some polls, Bulgakov's “Master and Margarita” is in first place in terms of popularity of authors and works of classical literature that teenagers read. Behind him, young people celebrate the novels of the classics of foreign literature - Salinger, Remarque and Saint Exupery. The twenty Strugatsky brothers and Ilf and Petrov were among the twenty read. They entered the life of young people not from teachers of the school system, but thanks to family traditions.
The Russians remain the reading nation, retaining the title of "The Most Reading Country in the World" in ratings and opinion polls. The legacy of a generation whose childhood passed behind an ideological fence, who grew up with the heroes of Dumas and Cervantes, Pushkin and Dostoevsky, continues to shape the worldview of progressive youth. Namely, it is not Russia that has hopes of it as a new carrier of literary Russian-speaking and patriotic consciousness.