First: I wanna clarify this. I know that loads of people read like 100 books a year, or read all the time. I know these people exist. I’m asking about people that are like… average. An average american who just… reads. Doesn’t track everything or sets goals of like 100, or never stops reading… Anyway, I’ve been searching this up, and i find answers like 15-50, even 100. I find this highly unlikely, especially for average US citizens. Half the people i know don’t even pick up 5 books a year, let alone 15! I just don’t believe these stats. I read somewhere that people read 8 a month on average? That can’t be right for an average person. That’s like 2 books a week… I know people do read this much, but still… For an average person? So be real… how many books do people actually read a year?
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You are confusing the significance of average and median. To illustrate, consider a sample of three people. If one reads 1 book, one reads 5, and one reads 50, the average person in that group has read 18.6 books. The median person has read 5 books.
In the same way, the average skews higher than the median for all Americans because the average is brought up by a relatively small number of people who read an enormous amount of books. So even though the median American only reads like 6 books a year (i.e. most Americans read 6 or fewer books), the average is brought up to something like 12-15 (depending on the survey) on behalf of a decent number of readers that are reading 40+ books a year.
On goodreads, the average number of books pledged for this year’s reading challenge is 43.
There are people who overshoot their target, and there are people who fall short, but since the reading challenge is an “aspiration”, a goal, a challenge to yourself, I think it’s fair to assume that most people aim at a number that is pretty high for them. So the average participant in the reading challenge reads less than 43 books.
Now take into account that goodreads is a community of dedicated readers. So the average for a goodreads user is naturally significantly higher than just for the average person. And even on goodreads, only people who want to read more participate in reading challenges. My guess would be that the average participant in the reading challenge reads maybe 30 to 35 books per year, and that’s on the high end for a goodreads user. Now factor in the millions of people who don’t read at all. There’s plenty of people who just don’t read. So yeah, there’s no way the average is 50 books. I think even 15 is too high. If 30-35 is already high outlier range, I think the national average is probably in the single digits.
From about 2010 to 2022 I read zero. I started reading this year in February and I have completed 15. It feels like a lot but anything would after zero. I know people on these subs read many times more but the people in real life I meet seem to think 15 is a lot so I guess the majority are like me before this year, reading zero.
I know so many people who NEVER read a book.
LOL if the average american read 50 books a year, we would live in a far more sensible world.
Vast majority of people do not read at all.
Only extremely slim % read those huge numbers. We are likely talking about 0.x% or less.
Can we create a poll some time at start of next year in this sub? Basically, how many books did people read in 2023 or something like that. If we want to go an extra mile, I’d be happy to collaborate on stackoverflow developer survey like long form poll where we try to quantify a lot of things like most popular genres, interests etc.
I was curious how I would answer if I was ever asked this on a survey. I am shocked to say I read more than 30 books this year! Not including short stories or children’s books. I thought it would be like 15.
So I would definitely skew the average up!
I think a lot of people don’t read at all. And that’s sad because I think they’re missing out.
I bet most don’t even read a single book
But I’d also guess people who do read, read a lot.