Report finds ‘shocking and dispiriting’ fall in children reading for pleasure

National Literacy Trust finds only 35% of eight to 18-year-olds enjoy reading in their spare time, a sharp drop on last year to the lowest figure yet recorded

By Ella Creamer for the Guardian

Children’s reading enjoyment has fallen to its lowest level in almost two decades, with just one in three young people saying that they enjoy reading in their free time, according to a new survey.

Only 34.6% of eight- to 18-year-olds surveyed by the National Literacy Trust (NLT) said that they enjoy reading in their spare time. This is the lowest level recorded by the charity since it began surveying children about their reading habits 19 years ago, representing an 8.8 percentage point drop since last year.

It is also part of a broader downward trend since 2016, when almost two in three children said that they enjoyed reading.

Reading frequency is also at a historic low, with 20.5% of eight- to 18-year-olds reporting reading daily in their free time, compared with 28% last year.

The gender gap in reading enjoyment has widened, with 28.2% of boys aged eight to 18 now saying they enjoy reading in their free time, compared with 40.5% of girls.

“We know that children who read for pleasure, and children who are read to, gain all kinds of benefits, from increased vocabulary to vastly improved mental wellbeing”, said children’s laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce. “But today’s survey shows that too often as a nation we are withholding those benefits from our children.” He described the benefits as an “invisible privilege”.

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