Reading is an infinite technology. Its ability to open the mind, expand the panorama and accompany the development of a person has been, and will continue to be, spectacular. In fact, the social, cultural, neurological and emotional benefits that this precious practice entails are countless.
Considering the above, it is interesting to try to answer the question: which are the most reading countries in the world? But despite the relevance of this question, the answer is not entirely easy because, strangely, there is no body or institution dedicated to developing a ranking in this regard on a periodic basis that covers all countries.
That is why we appeal to the multi-cited list of the market research agency NOP World, based in the United Kingdom and which has been taken up by dozens of authors who want to answer this question. By the way, it keeps calling that we have to refer to a “private” source, instead of a list from an international public organization.
The list was defined according to the number of hours that the average inhabitant of a country dedicates to reading (regardless of whether it is for work, academic or recreational reasons). The first place is occupied by India, since its inhabitants dedicate, on average, 10:42 hours per week to reading; It is followed by three other Asian countries: Thailand and the Philippines (by the way, among these are the two main economies in the world); and in fifth position appears, to the surprise of many, Egypt.
Places 6 through 10 are dominated by Europe (Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden tied with France, and then Hungary, the latter tied with Saudi Arabia). When it comes to Latin America, the best-placed country is Venezuela, in 13th place, followed by Argentina in 17th and Mexico in 24th (averaging around half the hours spent there).
List of the 15 countries that read the most in the world:
1. India 10.4 hours
2. Thailand 9.2
3. China 8
4. Philippines 7.4
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
Complete map of the countries that read the most and least in the world:
*Update: These are the countries that to date have achieved 100% literacy, according to UNICEF:
1. Andorra
2. Finland
3. Vatican
4.Liechtenstein
5. Luxembourg
6. Norway
7. Democratic Republic of Korea
8. Latvia
9. Estonia
10. Lithuania
11. Azerbaijan
12. Poland
13. Cuba
14. Tajikistan
15. Georgia
16. Armenia
17. Ukraine
18. Kazakhstan
19. Slovenia
20. Barbados
21. Russia
22. Turkmenistan
23. Belarus
24. Slovakia
25. Palau
26. Uzbekistan
On the other hand, a study carried out by two universities measured the number of books per person in each home with the following results:
Estonia: 218
Norway: 212
Czech Republic: 204
Denmark: 192
Russia: 154
Germany: 151
: 148
United Kingdom: 143
: 125
France: 117