Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

SHENZHEN residents read an average of about 15 books in 2023, including 6.72 paper books, a slight increase compared to 2022, according to a municipal reading report released yesterday, the 29th World Book and Copyright Day and the Ninth Shenzhen Minors Reading Day.

According to the report, the overall book reading rate of adult residents in Shenzhen remained at 69.05%.

The reading rates of newspapers and journals stood at 13.55% and 15.18%, respectively. There was a slight increase in the digital reading rate, which reached 87.34%.

Adults spent an average of 67.54 minutes per day reading last year. While the average time spent on reading newspapers was 28.09 minutes, the average reading time on journals slightly increased compared to 2022, reaching 32.69 minutes.

Digital reading remained popular among Shenzhen readers, who read an average of 8.25 e-books in 2023. The average time spent by Shenzhen residents using mobile phones for reading was 66.18 minutes a day in 2023, as per the report.

Time spent on tablets, which was 54.5 minutes, almost doubled compared to 2022. Meanwhile, time on e-readers also tripled compared to 2022, reaching 75.73 minutes.

For book buyers, the per capita purchase volume of paper books was 13.45, while e-books reached 14.77, showing a strong growth momentum. The collection of paper books in households stood at 45.57, and the number of e-books was 31.37, an increase compared to the average in 2022, data showed.

The report, compiled by the Shenzhen Publishing Group and published by Shenzhen Publishing House, is said to be the first city-based reading report in China. The first edition was released in 2016, and it has been published for nine consecutive years.

In this year’s report, Shenzhen also released its annual urban reading index for the 10th time. The Shenzhen Reading Index scored 99.86 points in 2023.

(More on Page 2)