Since the beginning of the 1980s, the proportion of people who read books every week in their free time has decreased from 40 to 31 percent in 2021, according to a report from the Statistical Central Bureau.
Women's book reading increased from the 80s until the 2010s but has since decreased, while men's reading has decreased slightly since 1982. According to the SCB's surveys of living habits, the development after 2022 has shown stagnant reading habits: in 2024, 29 percent of women and 19 percent of men (16–84 years) read every week.
On the other hand, audiobook listening increased sharply during the 2010s, especially among women and people under 50. Among 16–29-year-olds, the proportion of listeners increased from 21 percent (2014–2015) to 38 percent in 2024.
Like book reading, listening is more common among the highly educated and officials.
More women than men replace reading with listening. 32 percent of women who had not read books had instead listened to audiobooks, of which 15 percent did so every week. Among men, the corresponding figures were 25 percent and 9 percent.
