US Ranked 23rd in the World Spent for Reading

A new infographic outlines how many hours people around the globe spend reading books, and the United States is ranked 23rd on the list.

Below, are listed the top 30 countries–sorting them by mean hours spent reading. Russia Beyond the Headlines created the infographic using data from the World Culture Score index, a list compiled in 2005.  Have a look:

Consumers in India are most likely to spend time reading, at an average of 10.7 hours per week, followed by consumers in Thailand and China (at 9.4 hours and 8 hours per week respectively). At 3.1, 4.1 and 5 hours respectively, individuals in Korea, Japan and Taiwan fall to the bottom of the reading list.

What can we do in the U.S. to improve this, according to your humble blogger, deplorable statistic?  We can read to our children.  That is the solution.  So many kids in this country suffer from a deficit of parental and/or caregiver involvement in their reading health.

We need to read to them.  We need to model good reading habits ourselves.  We need to make an interest in reading front and center in our lives.  It rubs off!  

This is not a good statistic for the U.S.  And we can change it, if not for ourselves, certainly then for our children.




Hours Spent Reading Around the Globe

1. India 10.7
2. Thailand 9.4
3. China 8.0
4. Philippines 7.6
5. Egypt 7.5
6. Czech Republic 7.4
7. Russia 7.1
8. Sweden 6.9
9. France 6.9
10. Hungary 6.8
11. Saudi Arabia 6.8
12. Hong Kong 6.7
13. Poland 6.5
14. Venezuela 6.4
15. South Africa 6.3
16. Australia 6.3
17. Indonesia 6.0
18. Argentina 5.9
19. Turkey 5.9
20. Spain 5.8
21. Canada 5.8
22. Germany 5.7
23. USA 5.7
24. Italy 5.6
25. Mexico 5.5
26. U.K. 5.3
27. Brazil 5.2
28. Taiwan 5.0
29. Japan 4.1
30. Korea 3.1