A recent survey found that, contrary to what all your parents’ friends claim, print books are still vastly more popular than e-books and audio books.
The Pew Research survey, conducted earlier this year, found that since 2012 the percent of people who said they had read a book within the last 12 months has more or less remained the same: 73 percent.
Here’s what interesting: Sixty-five percent of Americans have read a physical, printed book within the last year compared to 28 percent who have read an e-book and 14 percent who have listened to an audio book.
The way people read e-books has evolved over the past five years as well. People who read e-books have shifted to using smartphones and tablets instead of e-readers. Since 2011, the percent of people reading on tablets has tripled and those reading on smartphones has doubled, but the percent of people using e-readers hasn’t changed at all.
Americans read an average of 12 books per year and the average American has read four books within the last year. On average, college graduates, people in the 18- to 29-year-old group, and women are more likely to read more throughout the year.