Portuguese are buying more and more books, but many of them have to be given away

Portuguese are spending more and more money on books, according to research from APEL, which highlights that many of these purchases are made at Christmas as gifts and may not mean more reading.

The amount spent on books has been growing in recent years: in 2022 it will be around 210 million euros, with further growth expected this year, now around 6% and 7%, Pedro Sobral, president of the Portuguese Association of Publishers and Publishers, said today. Booksellers (APEL).

“62% of Portuguese people bought books last year, 2022,” said Pedro Sobral during the 1st meeting of the “National Plan for Reading in Higher Education”, which took place at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon.

However, the president of APEL cautioned that this growth cannot be synonymous with an increase in the number of books read, taking into account another study carried out in 2021 for the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which showed that 61% of Portuguese do not read books.

According to APEL’s president, it is “not so absurd” that the two ideas do not contradict each other, since many books are bought at Christmas and given as gifts.

Returning to the now famous study, 53% of books purchased in 2022 were for gifts, and 82% of books were purchased for personal consumption, the APEL President added.

In 2019, for example, 67% of purchases were made between September and December, which is “at Christmas,” he added.

The areas where the decline in book purchases is most noticeable is the greater Porto region, on the coast and inland, recalled Pedro Sobral, emphasizing that buying books does not necessarily lead to an increase in reading habits.

Tuesday’s Gulbenkian meeting also presented findings from the first “Study on the Reading Habits of 1st Cycle Higher Education Students”, which attempted to characterize students’ reading habits, perceptions and motivations.