During 2024, the number of streams of audio and e-books increased by 3.3 percent to 45.7 million, according to the annual book sales statistics from the Swedish Booksellers' Association and the Swedish Publishers' Association.
The sale of printed books, on the other hand, continues to decline, particularly in the case of non-fiction literature, which is described as being in free fall. Since 2018, the book industry's turnover of printed books has decreased from 83 percent to 67 percent in 2024. Last year, sales decreased by 1.4 percent to 23 million printed books.
The exception is printed children's and young adult literature, which increased its turnover by 12.7 percent. The increase can be partly explained by the fact that the new government grant for the purchase of literature for preschools and elementary schools is now visible in the statistics.
Instead, it is the digital subscription services for audiobooks that account for an increasingly larger share of the total turnover in the book industry.
Fiction remains one of the most popular genres with 26.2 million streamed and sold copies during 2024.
The book industry as a whole generates over five billion kronor.
