Reading Facts

We want to create a world where everyone is reading their way to a better life. Research shows that reading for pleasure can promote better health and wellbeing, aids in building social connections and relationships with others and is associated with a range of factors that help increase the chances of social mobility.

Read our reports into the benefits of reading for pleasure and empowerment (BOP Consulting, 2015) and of creating a society of readers (Demos, 2018), or explore more reading stats and facts below.

Skills and Learning

Children

The need for our work

• One in four children hasn’t reached the expected level of reading by the age of 11. Many of these children will struggle to keep up at secondary school. ¹
• Further research, conducted in 2015, found that similar percentages of 15-year-olds across the UK do not have a minimum level of literacy proficiency: 18% in England and Scotland, 15% in Northern Ireland and 21% in Wales. ²
• Students are less able to learn other curricula if they do not develop sufficient reading skills by the middle of primary school.³
• Only 35% of 10-year-olds in England report that they like reading ‘very much’. This lags behind countries like Russia (46%), Ireland (46%), New Zealand (44%), and Australia (43%).⁴
• By the final year of compulsory schooling in England, the reading skills of children from disadvantaged backgrounds are on average almost three years behind those from the most affluent homes.⁵

Proven power of reading

• Reading for pleasure is more important for children’s cognitive development than their parents’ level of education and is a more powerful factor in life achievement than socio-economic background.⁶
  16-year-olds who choose to read books for pleasure outside of school are more likely to secure managerial or professional jobs in later life.⁷
• Having books in the home is associated with both reading enjoyment and confidence. Of children who report having fewer than 10 books in their homes, 42% say they do not like reading and only 32% say they are ‘very confident’ readers. For children who report having over 200 books at home, only 12% say they do not like reading and 73% consider themselves ‘very confident’ readers.⁸
• Children who read books often at age 10 and more than once a week at age 16 gain higher results in maths, vocabulary and spelling tests at age 16 than those who read less regularly.⁹

Adults

The need for our work

• In England, 1 in 2 adults don’t regularly read.
• Around 5.8 million people (16% of adults) in England and Northern Ireland score at the lowest level of proficiency in literacy (at or below Level 1).¹⁰
• Low levels of literacy cost the UK an estimated £81 billion a year in lost earnings and increased welfare spending, impacting on ‘the success of the economy as a whole’.¹¹
• Adults with lower levels of literacy are more likely to believe that they have little impact on political processes, and are less likely to participate in volunteer activities.¹²

Proven power of reading

• Per capita incomes are higher in countries where more adults reach the highest levels of literacy proficiency and fewer adults are at the lowest levels of literacy.¹³
• Reading extensively and for pleasure can foster the development of stronger reading habits and increase literacy skills at a greater rate than through formal literacy lessons.¹⁴

Connected Communities

The need for our work

• Feelings of loneliness cut across all age groups. About 5% of all adults report feeling lonely ‘often’ or ‘always’, with the number rising to 10% for 16-24-year-olds.¹⁵
• People who are single, widowed, or in poor health are among those at increased risk of feeling lonely more often.¹⁶
• Loneliness can cause serious physical harm: the health impacts are believed to be on the level of obesity or smoking.¹⁷

Proven power of reading

• 19% of readers say that reading stops them from feeling lonely. ¹⁸ This is backed up by a study analysing social connectedness which found that reading books significantly reduces feelings of loneliness for people aged 18-64.¹⁹
• Participation in shared reading groups is linked to enhanced relaxation, calmness, concentration, quality of life, confidence and self-esteem, as well as feelings of shared community and common purpose.²⁰
• Higher literacy skills are associated with a range of positive societal benefits, including having a stronger sense of belonging to society and being more likely to trust others. ²¹
• Studies have found that reading for pleasure enhances empathy, understanding of the self, and the ability to understand one’s own and others’ identities.²²

Health and Wellbeing

The need for our work

• Each week about 1 in 6 adults in the UK are affected by a common mental health disorder.²³
• Children with reading difficulties are at greater risk of developing mental health problems later in life, including depression, anxiety, behavioural problems, anger and aggression. ²⁴
• Non-readers are 28% more likely to report feelings of depression, and about 1.3 million people in the UK say they rarely read because of depression. ²⁵

Proven power of reading

• An online poll of over four thousand people from a representative sample in the UK revealed that regular readers for pleasure reported fewer feelings of stress and depression than non-readers, and stronger feelings of relaxation from reading than from watching television or engaging with technology intensive activities. ²⁶
• Studies have shown that those who read for pleasure have higher levels of self-esteem and a greater ability to cope with difficult situations. Reading for pleasure was also associated with better sleeping patterns. ²⁷
• Adults who read for just 30 minutes a week are 20% more likely to report greater life satisfaction. ²⁸

References

1.  [DfE (2022) Academic year 2021/11: Key Stage 2 Attainment p.13] ↩︎
2. [OECD (2016), Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA): Results from PISA 2015, United Kingdom p.3] ↩︎
3. [DfE (2016) DfE strategy 2015-20: World-class education and care p.24] ↩︎
4. [McGrane et al. (2017) Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS): National Report for England p. 102] ↩︎
5. [Jerrim, J, and N. Shure (2016) Achievement of 15-Year-Olds in England: PISA 2015 National Report DfE p. 105] ↩︎
6. [Sullivan and Brown (2013) Social inequalities in cognitive scores at age 16: The role of reading] ↩︎
7. [Taylor (2011) Reading at 16 linked to better job prospects] ↩︎
8. [McGrane et al. (2017) Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS): National Report for England p. 16] ↩︎
9. [OECD (2010) PISA 2009 Results: Learning to Learn: Student Engagement, Strategies and Practices p. 32-4] ↩︎
10. [OECD (2013) England & Northern Ireland (UK): Country Note–Survey of Adult Skills First Results p. 6] ↩︎
11. [World Literacy Foundation (2015) The Economic and Social Cost of Illiteracy p. 13] ↩︎
12. [OECD (2013) England & Northern Ireland (UK) – Country Note -Survey of Adult Skills first results p. 3] ↩︎
13. [OECD (2013) OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results From the Survey of Adult Skills] ↩︎
14. [Hilhorst, S, et al. (2018) A Society of Readers Demos p. 26] ↩︎
15. [Hilhorst, S, et al. (2018) A Society of Readers Demos p. 32] ↩︎
16. [Hilhorst, S, et al. (2018) A Society of Readers Demos p. 32] ↩︎
17. [DHSC (2018) Prevention is better than cure p. 10] ↩︎
18. [Billington, J (2015) Reading between the Lines: the Benefits of Reading for Pleasure Quick Reads University of Liverpool p. 6] ↩︎
19. [Hilhorst, S, et al. (2018) A Society of Readers Demos p. 12] ↩︎
20. [Longden E., Davis P., Billington J., et al (2015) Shared Reading: Assessing the intrinsic value of a literature-based intervention Medical Humanities, 41 (2), pp. 113-20] ↩︎
21. [OECD (2013) Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills] ↩︎
22. [Billington, J, (2015) Reading between the Lines: the Benefits of Reading for Pleasure Quick Reads University of Liverpool] ↩︎
23. [Hilhorst, S, et al. (2018) A Society of Readers Demos p. 30] ↩︎
24. [Boyes, M. E., Leitao, S., Claessen, M., Badcock, N. A., and Nayton, M. (2016) Why Are Reading Difficulties Associated with Mental Health Problems? in Dyslexia, 22: 263-266] ↩︎
25. [Billington, J (2015) Reading between the Lines: the Benefits of Reading for Pleasure Quick Reads, University of Liverpool p. 5-6] ↩︎
26. [Billington, J, (2015) Reading between the Lines: the Benefits of Reading for Pleasure Quick Reads, University of Liverpool] ↩︎
27. [Billington, J, (2015) Reading between the Lines: the Benefits of Reading for Pleasure Quick Reads, University of Liverpool] ↩︎
28. [Billington, J, (2015) Reading between the Lines: the Benefits of Reading for Pleasure Quick Reads, University of Liverpool p. 7] ↩︎