Malta’s dismal reading habits came under focus in new EU data released on Friday, which showed that more than half of all Maltese people – and almost two-thirds of men – did not read a single book in the whole of 2022.
According to the study published by the EU statistics office, 56 percent of respondents did not read a single book during the year. A further 27 percent said they had read fewer than five books in total.
Although Malta performs better than some other European countries – an incredible 70 percent of Romanians say they have not read a book, while Cyprus, Italy and Bulgaria all scored above 60 percent – the number of non-readers in Malta is well above the EU average of 47 percent.
According to the data, avid readers are hard to find. Only one in nine respondents say they read more than ten books a year, while another 8% say their annual total is between five and nine books.
At the top of the bookworm table is Switzerland, where over a quarter of people (29%) say they read more than ten books a year, closely followed by Ireland (26%) and three Scandinavian countries, namely Finland, Norway and Sweden.
65% of men do not read
Men seem to be particularly reluctant to read: 65% of Maltese men said they did not read any books at all in 2022, compared to 47% of women.
A similar development can be observed in most European countries: the reading rate among men tends to be lower than that of women.
Why women read more than men has long puzzled researchers. Some studies suggest that it is a self-reinforcing cycle: Young boys in their formative years do not see their fathers (or other male role models) reading, and so are less likely to pick up a book themselves.
Reading habits decrease with age
Reading habits in Malta do not seem to differ greatly between age groups. However, younger people are slightly more inclined to read a book, perhaps due to pressure from their teachers or lecturers.
In the 16- to 24-year-old age group, more than half say they have read at least one book (although only just – 49.5 percent say they have not read a book at all).
As people get older, the number of readers gradually decreases. Over 60% of people over 55 say they do not read at all.
The data “consistent with certain realities”: National Book Council
Although there is relatively little local data on Malta’s reading habits, the results suggest that little has changed over the past decade.
A survey conducted by the Arts Council Malta in 2016 revealed strikingly similar figures: it found that 55.5% of respondents had not read a single book in the previous year.
Responding to the data, a spokesperson for the National Book Council acknowledged that the data “is consistent with certain realities of the Maltese book publishing and book retail market”.
Ultimately, the spokesman said, “a healthy literary culture and a sustainable publishing industry cannot exist in a vacuum,” adding that the council would “continue to strive to promote a richer and more sustainable reading and book-buying culture on the island” through several initiatives.
Malta Book Centre until 2027
The council’s new five-year strategy document, due to be published later this year, aims to “understand and address some of the industry’s key weaknesses, including the lack of bookshops on the island,” the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the Malta Book Centre is scheduled to open in 2027, “a central point of contact both for purchasing books and for further cultivating a healthy literary culture in the heart of Valletta”.
Publishers are concerned that readership has fallen dramatically. Archive photo.“Dramatic” decline in readership in recent years: Publisher
Chris Gruppetta of Merlin Publishers told Times of Malta He said he was not surprised by these results, as the decline in readership of locally published books in recent years had been “as dramatic as it was catastrophic.”
“It is all well and good to praise the increasing quality of Maltese literature, both in terms of content and production (and I fully agree with this statement), but if no one reads it, then ………”
Gruppetta attributes this to a cultural sector that “has been looking in the wrong direction for years, spending money on the wrong things and generally operating in blissful ignorance of the reality on the ground”.
Merlin Publishers is among several local publishers that last month called on the government to intervene urgently in the sector, arguing that the publishing sector is in a critical situation amid rising costs.
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