Malta’s dismal reading habits came under the spotlight in new EU data published on Friday, which showed that over half of all Maltese – and almost two-thirds of men – didn’t read a single book throughout 2022.

The study, published by the EU’s statistics office, found that 56% of people hadn’t read a single book throughout the year, with a further 27% saying they read fewer than five books in total.

Although Malta fares better than some European countries – a staggering 70% of Romanians say they haven’t read a book, while Cyprus, Italy and Bulgaria all scored over 60% - the number of non-readers in Malta is well above the EU average of 47%.

Voracious readers are hard to find, according to the data. Only one in nine say they read more than ten books throughout the year, with a further 8% saying that their yearly tally was between five and nine books.

The bookworm table is topped by Switzerland, where over a quarter of people (29%) say that they read more than ten books throughout the year, closely followed by Ireland (26%) and a trio of Scandinavian states in Finland, Norway and Sweden.

65% of men don’t read

Men appear particularly reluctant to read, with 65% of Maltese men saying they didn’t read any books at all in 2022, compared to 47% of women.

A similar trend can be spotted across most European countries, with reading rates amongst men tending to be lower than those of women.

Why women read more than men has long baffled researchers, with some studies suggesting that it is a self-perpetuating cycle – young boys in their formative years don’t see their fathers (or other male role models) read and are less likely to reach for a book themselves.

Reading habits decline with age

Reading habits in Malta don’t appear to differ too drastically across age groups, although younger people are slightly more inclined to have read a book, perhaps under duress by their teachers or lecturers.

The 16 to 24 age group is the only group in which more than half say they read at least one book (albeit just about – 49.5% say they haven’t read a book at all).

The number of readers gradually drops as people get older, with more than 60% of people over the age of 55 saying they don’t read at all.

The data ‘does tally with certain realities’: National Book Council

While there is relatively little local data about Malta’s reading habits, the findings suggest that things have barely budged in almost a decade.

A survey carried out by Arts Council Malta in 2016 revealed uncannily similar figures, finding that 55.5% hadn’t read a single book throughout the previous year.

Reacting to the data, a spokesperson for the National Book Council admitted that the data “does tally with certain realities of the Maltese book publishing and bookselling market”.

Ultimately, the spokesperson said, “a healthy literary culture and a sustainable publishing industry cannot exist in a vacuum”, adding that the council “will continue to strive to cultivate a richer and more sustainable culture of reading and book-buying on the island” through several initiatives.

Malta Book Centre by 2027

The council’s new five-year strategy document, set to be published later this year, hopes to understand and address “some crucial pain points of the industry, among them a lack of bookshops on the island,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the Malta Book Centre, “a focal point for both book-buying and the further cultivation of a healthy literary culture at the heart of Valletta” will be unveiled in 2027.

Publishers worry that readership has declined dramatically. File photo.

‘Dramatic’ drop in readership over the past years: publisher

Merlin Publishers’ Chris Gruppetta told Times of Malta that he’s not surprised by these findings, saying that the drop in readership of locally published books in recent years “has been as dramatic as it’s been catastrophic”.

“It’s fine to praise the increasing quality of Maltese literature both in content and production (and I agree wholeheartedly with this statement) but if no one is reading them, then ………”

Gruppetta pins this on a cultural sector that “has for years been looking the wrong way, spending money on the wrong things and generally operating in blissful ignorance of the reality on the ground”.

Merlin Publishers are amongst several local publishers who last month called on the government for urgent intervention in the sector, saying that the publishing sector finds itself in critical condition in the face of rising costs.