The decline in reading for pleasure in the US: analyses of 20 years of the American Time Use Survey

Reading for pleasure has a wide range of benefits for literacy, employment, health, and wellbeing as well as promoting cultural understanding. However, previous monitoring of reading in the United States (US) has been inconsistent, with some studies demonstrating large declines over time, and others suggesting engagement has not changed. We provide the first comprehensive exploration of reading between 2003 and 2023 in the US, using a nationally representative sample from the American Time Use Survey (n=236,270). We found marked declines in daily reading over the last 20 years in the US, with a relative decrease of 2% per year in the proportion of individuals reading for pleasure (prevalence ratio=0.98, 95% CI=0.98, 0.98, p<0.001). There were disparities in reading across population groups, with widening gaps for those of Black race, those with lower education levels, less annual income, living in non-metropolitan areas, and with a disability. Our findings thus demonstrate the urgent need for more targeted strategies to increase opportunities for reading. Monitoring daily reading, and the individual characteristics influencing reading, will be vital to understand the impacts of future policies.