35 percent of Spaniards 'don't read books'
Over a third of Spaniards admit to "never" or "hardly ever" reading books, with nearly half of those people putting their lack of reading down to the fact that they are "not interested".
Spanish government research institute, the CIS, has been looking into the literary habits of Spaniards and the results make for sober reading.
While 29 percent of people polled said they read books every day, or nearly every day, one in five people said they almost never did so, and a full 15 percent said they never read books.
When people were asked by CIS why they didn't read, four in ten said it was because they were "not interested" while 23 percent cited a lack of time.
A further 13 percent put their lack of reading down to "bad vision".
SEE ALSO: Top ten: great books about Spain
The CIS study also shows that those Spaniards who do read get through an average of 8.6 books a year — far lower than in Finland where the average number of books read is 47, according to a statistic cited by Spanish daily El País.
Historical novels (23.6 percent) are the preferred reading material of Spaniards, according to CIS, while nine percent like to get stuck into action novels, eight percent like to lose themselves in a crime novels and six percent plump for romantic novels.
However, 50 percent of people admit to not having bought a single book in the last year.
Perhaps Spaniards prefer reading of the non-fiction variety, as over 40 percent read newspapers 'every day' or 'nearly every day'. They also tend to prefer reading newspapers in paper format (64 percent) rather than in their online versions (29 percent).
Spaniards seem to be a little bit slow on the uptake with digital reading; two thirds of people polled by CIS said they have never read an e-book.
While books may not be the most popular form of entertainment in Spain, television is as popular as ever. The latest figures from 2013 show that Spaniards watch, on average, four hours of television a day according to Spanish daily, El Mundo.
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Spanish government research institute, the CIS, has been looking into the literary habits of Spaniards and the results make for sober reading.
While 29 percent of people polled said they read books every day, or nearly every day, one in five people said they almost never did so, and a full 15 percent said they never read books.
When people were asked by CIS why they didn't read, four in ten said it was because they were "not interested" while 23 percent cited a lack of time.
A further 13 percent put their lack of reading down to "bad vision".
SEE ALSO: Top ten: great books about Spain
The CIS study also shows that those Spaniards who do read get through an average of 8.6 books a year — far lower than in Finland where the average number of books read is 47, according to a statistic cited by Spanish daily El País.
Historical novels (23.6 percent) are the preferred reading material of Spaniards, according to CIS, while nine percent like to get stuck into action novels, eight percent like to lose themselves in a crime novels and six percent plump for romantic novels.
However, 50 percent of people admit to not having bought a single book in the last year.
Perhaps Spaniards prefer reading of the non-fiction variety, as over 40 percent read newspapers 'every day' or 'nearly every day'. They also tend to prefer reading newspapers in paper format (64 percent) rather than in their online versions (29 percent).
Spaniards seem to be a little bit slow on the uptake with digital reading; two thirds of people polled by CIS said they have never read an e-book.
While books may not be the most popular form of entertainment in Spain, television is as popular as ever. The latest figures from 2013 show that Spaniards watch, on average, four hours of television a day according to Spanish daily, El Mundo.
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