Which generation reads the most… a handy infographic!
We all know that the 5 generations—Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generations—have some pretty big differences.
Although some of these may be rooted in unfair stereotypes, there’s no doubt they have different life experiences and expectations for everything from marriage to employment to entertainment.
But how different are their reading habits?
A new infographic by Best By The Numbers answers this question.
They show that the 5 generations share similar reading habits—but there are also some interesting differences. It’s all a question of digging below the surface.
Here are some key facts from the infographic:
Gen Z has increased their reading more than any other generation since the coronavirus pandemic.
Millennials are reading more books than any other age group. They also go to public libraries the most.
Every generation prefers physical books over digital ones.
Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation look at bestseller lists for their books, while Gen Z find inspiration on social media.
The “news junkies” are Gen X; they daily read more online news than any other generation.
And something quirky? As French readers get older, they are more likely to read sexy books.
What does all this tell us about reading habits more generally?
If you thought younger people prefer Facebook and TikTok over reading a good book, you’d be wrong. Thankfully, reading is still a popular choice for all, even with the tech savvy younger generations.
Check out the infographic below to learn more about the reading habits of the different generations.
I’m a Baby Boomer.
I get most of my news from the Los Angeles Times newspaper (in print).
I feel deprived when I don’t have time to read several books a week, yet many of the numbers shown were about whether people read any books in a YEAR! (My reading log had about 290 books and almost 100 stories last year.) Most of my new reading is ebooks, and most of my rereading is mass-market paperbacks, so with my recent drop in rereading time I’m actually reading mostly ebooks.
Years ago I learned not to start a new book I couldn’t finish by bedtime because if I tried to stop in the middle of a book to sleep I would just be kept awake by thinking about the book. That has faded a little over the years, so I can now sleep without finishing a new book, but the tendency is still strong enough that I mostly stick to rereading during the work week when I can’t guarantee large blocks of reading time. Days when I only have 15 minutes of time to read are rare.
I don’t listen to fiction audiobooks. My audio is non-fiction (for several years, mostly The Great Courses), which I do while exercising (a couple hours a week minimum) or driving.
I don’t use the public library because my personal library still has thousands of books I haven’t read yet.
My reading is romance most, then F&SF, a few mysteries, and even fewer other.
I’m Millenial and most of the information on the graphic does seem to fit my general reading behavior. What a pity the graphic shows lists of books for the other ages and magazines for Millenials, I would be curious to see which titles would have been named.
But it’s funny the magazine I read the most is Cosmo :D
I’m going to guess that Gen Z and Millenials spend considerably more time, on average, on their preferred apps and social media platforms than reading. They spend only a few minutes a day on average reading and from what we know of social media use… it’s way more than that. I’m going to guess that’s true for everyone except possibly the Silent Generation.
Just to make sure: this infographic is reproduced with permission, right?
I’m a Boomer whose kids are millennials and the youngest is more at the top of the Gen Z group. I homeschooled my children, and used a literature based curriculum. I read aloud to them for 2 to 4 hours a day most days. I’m blessed to live in a county with an amazing public library system. I relied heavily on that system for homeschooling since we used so many historical fiction and biography books. Years later, I’m still a devoted library user, or at least before Covid. I listen to a lot of books on audio. In fact, I usually have an audio and a print book going all the time. I read on a kindle for portability and convenience, and frankly for the low cost, but still prefer print books.
I am a proud member of the silent generation and don’t fall into most of the categories. I am a digital reader as Is my husband and I do listen to audiobooks but not primarily. I am definitely a news junkie and get the New York Times and the Washington Post on my iPad and also USA Today. I read a cross-section of genres and get my recommendations from friends, my Gen X daughter and her book clubs, Amazon and most definitely AAR. I am surprised that more of the silent generation do not read Digital as the ability to control the font is important to me. Very interesting topic. Romance and mysteries, both cozy and British who done its, are my main stays during these Terrible times. I also get recs from the posters here……most recently Megan Crane and Zoe York….thank you DiscoDeb.
I’m firmly in the Boomer camp (born 1957), but had my kids late in life—oldest is a Millennial, the two youngest are Gen Z. Reading always has been my go-to hobby/escape. My idea of Hell would be a world with no access to reading material. My kids grew up in a home full of books with two avid readers for parents. Their reading universe included Harry Potter and (a little later) Twilight. My oldest (who is 27 and on the Autism spectrum) reads mostly non-fiction, although steampunk is her go-to fiction. Interesting that someone mentioned BAD BLOOD above. My daughter loved that book—she’s convinced Elizabeth Holmes is also on the spectrum. Of my younger kids (22-year-old twins), one reads anything and everything (she has two degrees—one in English and the other in philosophy), we’re always trading book recommendations back & forth. Her favorite book she’s read so far this year is Samantha Downing’s MY LOVELY WIFE, which I first read because of the review here at AAR and then recommended to her. The other twin has undergraduate & masters degrees in Accounting and is studying for her CPA exams. Regency romances are her “escape/de-stress” books of choice. Her favorite is Liz Carlyle. Husband/Dad is much more a fan of non-fiction or murder-mysteries and generally prefers audiobooks. He’s younger than me, but still a Boomer.
Brilliant! What a fun read. Like Caz, I seem to cross from Gen X to the Silent Generation although I am a Boomer. I don’t have kids but to this day I bless my Mom for reading to me in the cradle and teaching me to read before I started kindergarten. It’s the greatest joy and most important skill you can have. And to Marian P – same with me when I read GWTW at 15. Started under the covers with my mini-flashlight and finished around 5am. I was so tired that it was the one and only time my Mom let me pull a fake sickie so I could get some sleep.
And re the older French readers. That was a surprise for sure. I wonder if they read sexy books for titillation, learning new skills or because their real sex lives are done and dusted? Tres interessant!
I was born in 1963 – depending on which defiinition you read as to what constitutes what generation, I’m either a late Boomer (!) or an early X-er…
I’m a Baby Boomer but I don’t appear to have many of the common reader habits. I have more of the Gen X characteristics. Maybe it’s because I’m close to the bottom of the age range.
I’m either a Boomer or a Gen X-er, depending on which definition I read, but the only characteristic that applies to me from either list is the one about reading to your kids!
I suspect millennials are using libraries most because this is the generation with young kids. Not only do libraries have great kids programming, but they also make reading six kids books a week affordable.
This is very interesting but I want to know who these people are who can only read a book 7-10 minutes a day? Am I the only one who loses hours of sleep starting a book at night and can’t sleep until I finish it?
I have a friend who says he can’t read books at all. I once lent him a copy of a non-fiction book called “Bad Blood”, because that’s about a medical laboratory fraud, and we both work as medical laboratory technologists. My friend told me he couldn’t make it past page 25 before falling asleep. He’s just incapable of reading unless it’s required at work. Otherwise, it exhausts him.
I told him about how I picked up Gone With the Wind for the first time when I was fifteen, got into bed with it at nine pm, thinking I’d read a chapter, and finished the book at just past five in the morning. He looked at me as though I was an alien.
This is going to sound odd coming from a writer, but I’m actually not bothered at all by people who don’t enjoy leisure reading. As long as people can read critically and question what they read, I honestly don’t care if they do it for fun or not. In fact, I’ve always found it kind of peculiar that reading is the one hobby this culture doesn’t allow you to dislike without shame and pressure. You don’t like knitting or skydiving? Oh, well. To each his own. But you don’t like reading? WTF is wrong with you!?
As for the last novel that kept me up too late at night, it was James Leo Herlihy’s Midnight Cowboy.
I’m not surprised that a number of people don’t read. I’ve heard people say it and I know a bunch of people who openly say they don’t. It’s for many reasons, their eyes are tired from work, computer screens, etc. don’t have the time or just don’t enjoy it. They would rather stream something or watch TV. Work on a craft, do stuff for the family or whatever. It was the amount of time that struck me. I guess most of the people I know are readers or not. They are all or nothing. 7-10 minutes seemed random, but apparently it’s not.
I definitely know people who say once they finished their degrees they were “done with reading” and that “reading books isn’t fun”. Which just shows no matter how different we are we can get along if we are friends, lol.
It was the amount of time, 7-10 minutes that baffled me a little. It’s not enough to say read on your lunch hour, or take an hour at night or after work to relax with a cup of tea and a few chapters.
I am very intrigued, what books are people reading for 7-10 minutes? Unless I’m reading it incorrectly and it’s just any kind of reading, online, news site or newspaper/magazine. That would make more sense to me.
The 7-10 minutes is a daily average but that doesn’t mean someone reads every day. I have friends who work making infographics and they say this is just a convenient way to break down the data. For the averages that are less than 25-30 minutes/day it’s most likely that they read 25-30 minutes say 2x a week and so when divided by 7 days that’s an average of 7-10 minutes a day.
Thanks, that makes way more sense to me. I wasn’t even thinking in terms of averages.