Print books remain the more widely read format in the available U.S. and Canadian measures, but digital reading is substantial and has expanded over time. In 2025, 64% of U.S. adults had read a print book in the previous year, compared with 31% who had read an ebook. In Canada in 2023, 92% of readers had read a print book at least once, while 69% had read an ebook.
Table of contents
- Print and ebook readership in the United States
- Format preferences and purchases in Canada
- How often readers use each format
- How readers acquire print books and ebooks
- Age, income, education, and youth differences
- Accessibility, genres, and digital reading behaviors
Print and ebook readership in the United States
Pew Research Center’s annual measures show print readership consistently exceeding ebook readership among U.S. adults. In 2011, 72% of adults said they had read a print book in the previous 12 months, while 17% said they had read an ebook. In 2012, the corresponding figures were 66% and 23%.
The gap remained evident in later surveys. In 2014, 69% of U.S. adults read a print book during the previous year, compared with 28% who read an ebook. In 2015, print-book readership was 63% and ebook readership was 27%. In 2016, the figures were 65% for print and 28% for ebooks.
| Year | Print book readership | Ebook readership |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 72% | 17% |
| 2012 | 66% | 23% |
| 2014 | 69% | 28% |
| 2015 | 63% | 27% |
| 2016 | 65% | 28% |
| 2018 | 67% | 26% |
| 2019 | 65% | 25% |
| 2021 | 65% | 30% |
| 2025 | 64% | 31% |
Source: Pew Research Center, “Print books still dominate in the U.S., but use of e-books and audiobooks has grown over the past decade”. Percentages describe U.S. adults who read each format during the stated previous year or previous 12 months.
Pew recorded 67% print readership and 26% ebook readership in 2018, followed by 65% and 25% in 2019. In 2021, 65% of U.S. adults read a print book and 30% read an ebook in the previous 12 months. The 2025 figures were 64% and 31%, respectively. These measures are format-specific: the percentages can include people who read both print and digital books.
The National Endowment for the Arts used a broader measure. Its 2022 data found that 48.5% of U.S. adults read at least one book in print or electronically, 6.1 percentage points below the comparable 2012 level. The NEA also reported that 53% of U.S. adults read literature and/or books of some kind in 2022, down from 57.1% in 2017. The share reading novels or short stories fell from 45.2% in 2012 to 37.6% in 2022. These are broader reading measures, so they should not be treated as direct replacements for Pew’s print-versus-ebook format figures.
Format preferences and purchases in Canada
BookNet Canada’s Turning Pages: Print Book Use in Canada 2023 found a strong print preference among Canadian book buyers. In 2023, 74% preferred print books, 17% preferred ebooks, 6% preferred audiobooks, and 3% had no format preference. Among public-library book borrowers, 70% preferred print, 17% ebooks, 9% audiobooks, and 5% had no preference.
Preference also affected willingness to switch formats. Only 22% of buyers who preferred print said they would choose another format when print was unavailable. The comparable shares were 43% among ebook-preferring buyers and 46% among audiobook-preferring buyers. Among buyers preferring print, 32% said they would not choose another format when print was unavailable. Among Canadian print readers, 30% said they would not read a book in another format if the print version was unavailable, while 25% answered maybe. For ebook readers and audiobook listeners, 18% and 21%, respectively, said they definitely would not read another format.
Print also dominated purchase composition. Print books accounted for 79% of all books purchased by Canadian book buyers in 2023, compared with 14% for ebooks and 4% for audiobooks. Among buyers who purchased print books, 84% of their purchases were print, 10% ebooks, and 3% audiobooks. Across all Canadian book purchases, print’s share was 73% in 2019, 70% in 2020, 69% in 2021, and 73% in 2022.
Seventy-three percent of Canadian book buyers bought at least one print book in 2023. Paperback represented 53% of their purchases and hardcover 25%. Those format-specific purchase figures describe buying behavior, not the total number of books read.
How often readers use each format
The Canadian Leisure & Reading Study 2023 measured both whether people read a format and how frequently they used it. In Canada, 92% of readers read a print book at least once in 2023, compared with 69% who read an ebook. Print readership at least once fell from 96% in 2019 to 92% in 2023, while ebook readership rose from 61% to 69%.
Once a week was the most common frequency for both formats, but it was reported more often for print: 23% read print books once a week, compared with 16% for ebooks. Daily reading showed the same pattern. Eighteen percent read print books once a day and 13% read ebooks once a day; 8% read print books more than once a day, compared with 6% who read ebooks more than once a day.
The survey also reported a large difference in the “never” category: 8% of print readers never read print books, compared with 31% of ebook readers who never read ebooks. The wording reflects the survey’s format-specific frequency results and should not be interpreted as a contradiction in the at-least-once figures.
Overall reading volume varied by format. Just over half of Canadian readers, 52%, read between one and five books in 2023. Ebook readers were the group most likely to report reading 12 to 49 books, at 17%. Among audiobook listeners, 63% listened to five or fewer books. OverDrive data reported by BookNet Canada showed audiobook checkouts rising 20% in 2023 compared with 2022, while ebook checkouts remained relatively stable since 2020.
How readers acquire print books and ebooks
Paid and free access followed different patterns in Canada in 2023. Forty-seven percent of print readers purchased their books, the highest paid-acquisition rate among the three measured formats. Only 36% of ebook readers paid for ebooks. Free sources supplied books for 51% of print readers, 62% of ebook readers, and 58% of audiobook listeners.
The public library was the leading free source for ebook readers, supplying 23% of their books in 2023, up from 19% in 2022. Free internet sites supplied 19%, making them the second-most-used free source for ebooks. For print readers, the public library supplied 22% of free acquisitions, while borrowing from another person supplied 11%.
Paid purchasing channels differed by format. Canadian ebook purchases most often came through an online retailer or retailing app, at 19%, followed by subscription services at 11%. Print purchases came from physical bookstores at 12%, online retailers at 12%, used bookstores or thrift stores at 11%, and general retailers at 9%. For audiobook buyers, online retailers accounted for 16% of acquisitions and subscription services for 13%.
The balance between paid and free access changed for print readers between 2022 and 2023. In 2023, 47% bought their books and 51% found a free source, reversing the 2022 pattern of 52% bought versus 46% free. These percentages describe readers’ reported acquisition sources and are not a market-revenue estimate.
Age, income, education, and youth differences
Format use varies across population groups, although the supplied surveys do not provide one complete cross-country demographic comparison. Among Canadian ebook readers aged 18–29 in 2023, 65% obtained books from free sources, the highest rate among the reported ebook age groups.
In Pew’s 2021 U.S. survey, adults ages 18–29 were more likely to read books than adults ages 65 and older. Pew also found that audiobook listening among U.S. adults with annual household incomes below $30,000 rose from 14% in 2019 to 22% in 2021. Among urban U.S. adults, the share reporting any book reading rose from 75% in 2019 to 81% in 2021. These findings concern age, income, and location measures; they do not establish that one format caused the differences.
The U.K. government’s Parent, pupil and learner voice: June 2025 survey gives a youth-focused view. Among secondary pupils who read in their free time, 51% accessed reading by buying a physical copy or having someone buy one for them. Nineteen percent used an ebook reading device, compared with 28% through a local library. School-based access was reported by 44%, more than twice the 19% using an ebook reading device. Twenty-four percent borrowed a physical copy from a friend or family member, while 12% used a paid app.
Accessibility, genres, and digital reading behaviors
Print and digital formats support different reading needs. In Canada in 2023, 18% of print-book readers preferred large-print formats, 4% preferred Braille books, and 27% used a magnifier. Among ebook readers, 75% at least sometimes used bookmarks and 75% at least sometimes adjusted font size or spacing. Seventy-three percent at least sometimes adjusted screen magnification or zoom to enlarge text.
Genre profiles overlapped across print and ebooks. Adult fiction was read by 68% of Canadian print readers and 68% of Canadian ebook readers in 2023, compared with 62% of audiobook listeners. Adult nonfiction was read by 63% of print readers and 53% of ebook readers. Mysteries or thrillers were read by 55% of print readers and 46% of ebook readers.
The Northern Ireland measure provides another regional comparison. In 2024/25, 62% of adults read a traditional paper book, 29% read ebooks, and 12% cited an eaudiobook, according to Experience of culture, arts and heritage by adults in Northern Ireland. Its geography and measurement period differ from the U.S. and Canadian surveys, so the percentages are best read as a separate regional snapshot.