Do You Read More Books Than The Average American?

Pew Research Center just released their reading data for 2016, and I know you’re all wondering whether you read more books than the average American. As long as you’re one of the 73 percent of people in the United States who have at least attempted to read one book in the last year, you’re in good standing. Here’s what Pew has to say about U.S. residents’ reading habits.

People are still reading, and — with the exception of e-book reading — their habits remain largely unchanged. Yes, despite what you may have heard, books are still just as popular today as they were when Pew began to track U.S. reading data five years ago. The average American still reads just four books per year, and the typical American reads 12.

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Women read more than men. This has not changed in the last decade, at least. A typical man reads nine books in a year, while a typical woman reads 15. Women are also more patient readers than men, but — because Pew counts books as read whether you finish them or not — this reading habit has no bearing on their reading statistics. Additionally, the sexes consume e-books and audiobooks at equal rates.

There’s still some bad news, however. More than one-quarter — 26 percent, in fact — of the population didn’t read at all in 2015.