The reading population in Mexico fell 14.6% in the last decade: Inegi

MEXICO CITY (apro).- Although there is at least one bookstore in the country’s shopping centers, cultural festivals and book sales, from 2015 to February 2024, the reading population in Mexico decreased 14.6%.

The average time per reading session nationwide was 41 minutes. It is not even possible to read at least an hour on average each day. This resulted in the book-reading population reading an average of 3.2 copies per year.

The decline in the reading population was more pronounced among men, whose indicator went from 86.7% in 2015 to 69.9% in 2024. In the case of women, it decreased from 81.9 to 69.3%, according to data from the Reading Module presented by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

69.6% of the literate 18-year-old population declared having read books, magazines, newspapers, comics, Internet pages, forums or blogs.

Books continue to be the most read object with 41.8%, then internet pages with 39.4%, magazines 21.7%, newspapers with 17.8% and comics fell to 4.6%.

Between 2015 and 2024, the largest increase in the gap in the percentage of the reading population occurred in the 45 to 54-year-old group, with 20.1 percentage points. For its part, the group of 18 to 24 years old was the one that presented the smallest increase in the gap, with 6.5%.

Compared to 2015 data, magazines and newspapers had the largest decrease: 25.5% in the case of magazines, and 31.6% in the newspaper category. This trend remains in tune with the decrease in circulation in the media, who have chosen to give greater importance to their presence in the digital area.

It is enough to remember that although there is a furor over the recent reissues of One Hundred Years of Solitude by the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez due to the series that Netflix will premiere this year, or the latest book by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the reading trend in the country is increasingly accentuated.

Although Inegi tried to minimize the fact by ensuring that “however, compared to the 2023 data, a slight increase of 1.1 percentage points is observed.”

A year before the pandemic, the indicator stood at 72.4%, despite the fact that during confinement there was a boom in virtual reading clubs.

This is consistent with the fact that the highest number of books read by Mexicans in a year was in 2022, with 3.9 books on average.

The hope of young readers

Although the indicators reflect that reading is declining, there is a possibility of growth at least in new readers, since book reading increased by almost nine percentage points in the 25 to 34 year old group. .

Although there was a reduction of almost seven percentage points in the 55 to 64 age group.

Free reading

Free access to reading materials increased from 55.6% in 2015 to 66.7% in 2024. Likewise, 74.7% of magazine readers accessed them at no cost; In 2015 the percentage was 49.8%. Finally, 56.3% of newspaper readers had free access in 2024 compared to 41.2% in 2015.

Although Inegi does not detail more data about this phenomenon, there is an increase in free digital editions of newspapers and magazines in WhatsApp chats and Telegram channels, which impacts the journalistic world and, in turn, the profitability and viability of the companies. publishing companies. Ironically, where these PDFs are most widely disseminated, they are mainly in the groups used by reporters, communicators and social communication authorities.

Process documented that the illegal distribution of its weekly edition alone amounted to more than 400 million pieces of content distributed in the last 10 years. And as noted at the time, “government offices and private companies have participated in this illegal distribution; even the academic sector and individuals.”

However, newspapers are not the only thing that circulates illegally, there are also Telegram channels dedicated to sending books and comics, both in Spanish and English editions.

Despite this, the data show that the training of fathers, mothers and guardians continues to have the greatest impact on reading childhood, since seeing an adult reading provoked an interest of 51% and the existence of a library at home represented the 58.1%.