In Latvia, half of the adult population reads 

According to the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia, 50.3% of the Latvian population aged 16 and over regularly reads books. 

A 2022 survey found that 62% of women in Latvia and only 36% of men read. Among men, 38% have not read a single book in a year due to lack of interest, and 16.4% of women gave the same reason for not reading. Those citing lack of time as the reason for not reading were 19.5% men and 13.5 % women. Only 0.2% of men and 0.6% of women reported that they did not read books because they could not afford to.

Major Take-Aways From the Survey: 

The survey results demonstrate that people with higher education (70.4%) read significantly more than people with high school education (42.6%) or elementary school education (33.7%). 

The most affluent part of the population is more likely to read. Among the wealthiest population, 64.7% read during the year, while among the poorest – only 40.9% read. Among people from the poorest households surveyed, 33.3% said they were not interested in reading at all.

The survey shows that 59% of the country’s residents read in Latvian, 43% in Russian, 25% in English, and 1% in other languages. The idea of introducing a rule that requires at least half of the books in shops to be in Latvian was supported by 42% of respondents.

The full results of the survey can be found here.

 According to a 2020 Info Sapiens study, 72% of Ukrainians read books.

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Translation: Kateryna Shykitka

Editing: Lea Ann Douglas, Terra Friedman King