Reading becomes more popular among Chinese in 2021: Survey

BEIJING -- Chinese adults and children read more books, both paper and digital, in 2021 compared with 2020, according to the results of a national survey on reading released Saturday.

The per capita reading volume of paper books was 4.76, and that for digital books was 3.3 in 2021. As many as 45.6 percent of the surveyed adults said they preferred to read paper books.

Over 77 percent of the surveyed adults used to read books on mobile phones last year, and more than 30 percent of them had a habit of "listening to book readings."

On average, Chinese adults spent 21.05 minutes reading every day in 2021, one minute more than the figure for 2020, the survey showed.

The number of books read by juveniles per capita stood at 10.93 in 2021, an increase of 0.22 from 2020.

The survey was conducted by the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication. Samples were collected from 162 cities in 30 provincial-level regions nationwide through online and telecom channels.