At the opening of Book Night at the National and University Library in Zagreb, held on the occasion of World Book and Copyright Day and Croatian Book Day, findings of a survey were presented indicating that reading habits in Croatia have not significantly changed, but there has been a continuous gradual decline in recent years.
Over the past five years, the response to the question "Have you read at least one book this year?" has dropped from 49 to 38 percent.
The research was conducted on a representative sample in Croatia, with a thousand respondents surveyed from 1 March to 20 March.
Culture and Media Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek said that the survey findings do not entirely support reading advocates, but added that the Ministry and others will not give up on measures to encourage reading.
Women, highly educated individuals, and Istria residents are most avid readers
The survey shows that the likelihood of someone having read at least one book increases if they are female (45 percent), highly educated (61 percent), have higher household incomes (49 percent), or live in Istria (52 percent).
The three most common ways to obtain books are still borrowing from the library (37 percent), purchasing (40 percent), and borrowing from friends (34 percent). However, among readers, there are differences in how they acquire books.
The youngest individuals more frequently borrow books from the library and copy or download them from the Internet, while those from Slavonia or Dalmatia or rural areas more often borrow from friends. Individuals aged 26-45, highly educated individuals, and those with high incomes most commonly purchase books. People over 65 years old are most likely to receive books as gifts.
Fiction remains the most read and purchased genre. Among the remaining types of books, children's books are the most purchased, followed by non-fiction, manuals, and professional books, according to the results.
Seventy-two percent of the population reads online content, with the highest percentage among highly educated individuals (89 percent), those aged 16-45 (85 percent – 92 percent), living in Zagreb and its surroundings (86 percent), and households with monthly incomes exceeding 2200 euros (92 percent).