How Many Books Does the Average Person Read?

Curated by Paul Helmick

I’m a Technology CEO and Experienced Entrepreneur. I love helping people use technology to grow their business.

  • According to Pew Research  roughly 72 percent of American adults read a book last year, continuing a gradual decline over the last 5 years – here are some of the stats
  • The average number of books each person read over the course of a year was 12 – but that number is inflated by the most avid readers
  • The most frequently reported number was 4 books per year
  • Educated, affluent women read the most – Women tend to read more than men
  • 90 percent of college grads read at least one book a year, compared to 34 percent of people who haven’t finished high school
  • Also, the more money they earned, the likelier they were to be readers and older people read less
  • Americans don’t read as much as most other countries – we’re slackers compared to most other countries, spending just a little more than half the time reading that our counterparts do
  • CEOs tend to be voracious readers – with most executives reading 4–5 books per month, far outpacing the general population