Reading

Our research into reading explores reading enjoyment, reading habits and reading motivation. It highlights how these have changed over time and how they are impacted by sociodemographic background, access to books and the home environment. Our Annual Literacy Survey has been tracking changes in enjoyment, attitudes to and behaviours in reading since 2005 and is the biggest study of its kind in the world.

We also explore book ownership, library provision and other issues around access to reading.

Key statistics in reading (2026 findings)

• More than 1 in 3 (36.1%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said they enjoyed reading in 2026. This is a slight increase on 2025 but far lower than the levels reached in the mid-2010s and when compared with 2005, when we first asked the question.
• More than 1 in 5 (20.3%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they read daily, again, a slight increase on 2025 but lower than peak levels, a decade ago, and since we first asked 2005.
• In 2024, we found that children and young people who enjoyed reading (n = 1,211; M = 109.13) had higher average (mean) standardised reading scores than children and young people who didn’t enjoy reading (n = 2,593; M = 102.65). This difference was statistically significant.

Read our 2026 reading research report in full.

Key statistics in book ownership (2025 findings)

• In 2025, 1 in 10 (10.3%) children and young people aged 5 to 18 said that they did not have a book of their own at home, while 9 in 10 (89.7%) children and young people said that they did.
• 1 in 6 (15.7%) 8- to 18-year-olds who received free school meals (FSMs) told us that they did not have a book of their own.
  • This compares with 1 in 11 (9.0%) of their peers who did not receive FSMs.

Find out more.