The survey was conducted in March 2020 on a representative sample of 1,000 respondents by the Kvaka Agency for Creative Analysis.
In a press release published on the occasion of the 9th Book Night, Tamara Kraus of the Kvaka agency said that the significant shift in book reading was a result of the enthusiasm of organisations and individuals promoting book reading and buying.
"The 49% of readers refers to the percentage of persons aged 16 and up who have read at least one book over the past year, except the required school reading," Kraus pointed out.
Among readers, the largest number read two books in a year. The following groups read books more often than others: women (55%), people in the 26 - 35 age group (60%), and people with university degrees (78%). Books they read are most often borrowed in libraries (44%) or bought (38%).
As for the type of books being read, fiction is still in the first place (65%), followed by non-fiction and technical books (27% each), and reference books (22%).
Books are still most often bought in bookstores (47%), followed by news-stands (18%), and online shops (15%).
Although it was predicted a few years ago that e-books would replace printed books, the percentage of those who read, and especially those who buy e-books, has remained stable at 2%. E-books are read by 9% of Croatians. Daily newspapers are the most in-demand online content, read by 55% of Croatians, while a third of the Croatian population does not even occasionally read content on the Internet.