How important to Brazilians is reading?

Photo of Vita Maksymets at Unsplash

A British company Nielsen BookData survey highlighted that only 16% of Brazilians over 18 purchased at least one book in 2023. Of these 25 million consumers, 74% stated their intention to acquire another in the next three months.

The study, titled “Panorama do Consumo de Livros” (Overview of Book Consumption) was commissioned by the Brazilian Book Chamber (CBL). Among the large portion that did not engage in buying, 60% consider the habit essential but are discouraged by the price, lack of time, or absence of physical stores nearby.

Despite seeming like a setback for reading in the country, the same survey highlights that among non-buyers, 56% found some alternative to purchasing, either through free PDF downloads, library access, borrowing from friends, or gifts received.

Competing with a universe of attention and interactivity, publications reinvent themselves, and the same stories from physical copies can be consumed through digital media, such as mobile apps, e-readers, or audiobooks. Some companies make their library available to customers for a fixed monthly fee.

The quantity of pirated books in the country is not included in the research data. According to the Brazilian Reprographic Rights Association, the Brazilian publishing market loses over R$ 1 billion annually due to piracy. It is worth noting that the free books that do not fall into this category are those made available at no cost by the author or those in the public domain, a period counted after 70 years from the creator's death.

Even with the legal or illegal possibility of accessing these materials and immersing oneself in the content, some age groups show few readers compared to our South American neighbours. The study released by the Center for Research in Education, Interdisciplinarity, and Evidence in Educational Debate (Iede), in partnership with the reading platform Árvore, pointed out that only 9.5% of Brazilian students aged 15 and 16 read any material with more than 100 pages in 2018, while Chile had 64%, Argentina 25.4%, and Colombia 25.8%.

Reading is related to habits like any other activity, whether for leisure or study. With proper access and some honest exchanges combined with the support of governments, entities, and communities, it is possible to encourage and bring this culture closer to Brazilians.