- 79% of Canadians have read a book in the past year
- The number of Canadians who read at least one book each year has decreased by 10% since 2014
- More readers live in urban areas or cities than in rural areas
- The percentage of readers increases amongst more educated people
Canadian reading habits over time
- The number of Canadians who read at least one book each year has decreased by 10% since 2014
- It reached its lowest in 2019 at 78% but rebounded to 79% in 2020
- Until 2020, the number of Canadians who had read a book each year was consistently decline each year showing a worrying trend but it seems to have stabilized
Canadian reading habits by age group
- The 18 to 29-year-old age group contains the most readers with 86% having read a book in the past year
- This declines for each age group and reaches its lowest with the 55 to 64-year-olds where only 71% have read a book in the past year
- It rises again for people aged 65+ but it is still the second-lowest age group for the percentage of readers
How often do Canadians read?
- 41% of Canadian readers read every day
- 26% of Canadian readers read weekly
- 12% of Canadian readers read monthly
- 21% of Canadian readers read less than once a month
- 67% of readers read daily or weekly
- The oldest and the youngest read most frequently:
- 19% of readers aged 65+ read more than once a day
- 14% of readers aged 18-29 read more than once a day
- There are more people in the age 65+ category that read more than 50 books a year than in any other age group