Have you ever wondered which generation reads the most books? We have the answer to that question and the answer will surprise you!
Which Generation Reads the Most?
Generation Z (5-25) is known to be on their phones a lot but ever since the pandemic, they have increased their reading time. But they still aren’t the generation that reads the most.
The generation that reads the most is the millennials (26-40). Around 80 % have read a book in the past 12 months, more than any other generation according to data from Best By The Numbers. Coming in second place is baby boomers (56-75) with around 70 % having read a book in the past 12 months.
Which Generation Reads the Longest Per Day?
Now we will look at which generations reads the longest each day. The silent generation (76+) reads for an average of 35 minutes a day. With nine less minutes of reading, the baby boomers come in second with 25 minutes of reading per day. Gen X (41-55) cracks the top three with 10 minutes and millennials just miss out and come in fourth with 8 minutes of reading a day.
Older generations read more according to data but how do people read their book: print books copy or ebook? Physical copies are the preferred choice as they were chosen by 65 % of Americans who read a book in the last year. Every generation preferred print books over ebooks and it wasn’t close.
How Generations Find Their Next Book
How does each generation find a book to read? Just take a guess and chances are you will be right. Older generations turn to best-seller lists while Gen Z finds them on social media. With the emergences of TikTok, it is evident that the younger generation has embraced discovering new books on social media and have helped authors make it to the best-seller lists. That means that Gen Z is influencing what the older generations read. What a plot twist!
With the important stuff out of the way, we can focus on random tadbits like which generations visit the library the most and it is the younger generations. Gen Z prefers fantasy, young adult, and romance books while Gen X seems to have no preference. Baby boomers love thrillers and the silent generation enjoys mystery and suspense novels.
Conclusion
Are you surprised by any of the findings here? Let us know in the comments below!
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I used an e-reader for several years but eventually went back to actuall books. E-readers aren’t quite the same, and they don’t smell like books.
They do not. I find them more convenient but nothing beats an actual book
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I have always wondered which generation reads the most. Nice post. Thanks for sharing. 😀
Thanks!
This post helped me answer one of my assignment questions. Thanks Ahaquir!
I can’t believe this study was based on how many people in each generation have read ‘a’ book (ONE book!) in a year. The generation that reads the most will be made up of individuals who read MULTIPLE books in a year. I probably read 2 or 3 every week (so at least 100 per year) and I don’t think I’m at all unusual.
The last post (arguing that the correct determining factor would be which generation reads the greatest number of books in a year) is correct and I would better the original article needs to be corrected.
You need to redo your math. Baby Boomers born 1945-1964, Gen X born 1965- not sure. That means boomers are between the ages if 59-79 and X is between ?-59. You have X at 55, for the oldest. They go until 59. If course, not sure when this article came out. Thank you.
The forgotten generation, X member.
Yes, I agree. I think that you’ll have to do more research in more areas in regards to people over 65 and how much they read. Your values are far too low. I don’t know anyone that reads only one book per year in fact my husband can read a book every other day. So we are avid readers and most people we know over 65 read books, some are on Kindle or have access to a good libraries and senior centers with decent stock. We also have book clubs. Not sure where you chose to get your data.
Were the “facts” in this article found social media? Way off.
Gen Xers currently top off at 59, not 55 as the style suggest. Gen X started being born Jan 1, 1965.
How can this article be authentic when you don’t even have the ages of the generations, correct? The oldest GEN Xers are 59!!