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The latest readership research results are already known. According to the National Library of Poland's report, 2019 saw a permanent halt in the decrease of readership and even the first noticeable increase since 2014. To some extent, this is a result of a good economic situation, fuelling the reader's interests through screenings, TV series, or computer games, but also social campaigns such as the one organised by the Book Institute "Small Book - Great Man", thanks to which 1,175,000 books have been delivered to newborns and preschoolers since 2017, and 45% of the preschoolers, who have received books from libraries thanks to our campaign, are very new readers. Undoubtedly, prestigious literary awards, such as the Nobel Prize for Olga Tokarczuk, play a significant role in shaping readers' tastes.
39% of Poles have read books
In 2019, 39% of Poles declared to have read at least one book. As the basic sources of acquiring books, the readers indicated: purchase (41%), borrowing from a friend (35%), gift (31%), borrowing from a library (27%), and own book collection (20%).
For the first time since 2012, the list of authors of the most frequently mentioned books is opened by as many as three contemporary writers, winning in terms of popularity - Remigiusz Mróz, Olga Tokarczuk, and Stephen King. The mass readership circulation also includes representatives of the classics of fiction - Henryk Sienkiewicz and Adam Mickiewicz.
Reading e-books and listening to audio books
Poles treat e-books as belonging to the same category as paper books. Their readership was indicated by 6% of readers (2.5% in the entire population). Listening to audiobooks was declared by 3% of respondents in the whole population. In turn, 6% of readers combine reading and listening – as many respondents mentioned both text books (paper and e-books) and audiobooks. This is confirmed by observations from previous research by the National Library: e-books and audiobooks do not compete with traditional paper books but complement them.
Download The state of readership in Poland in 2019. Preliminary results