About 70% of Russians read books daily — pollster

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. The majority of Russian citizens read books on a regular basis, Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) revealed in a survey. "A little over half of respondents report being avid readers (52% noted that they often read books). About 71% of participants who read books do so on a daily basis or several times a week, 28% only do this occasionally (22% a few times a month and 6% a few times a year). The other half of Russians (48%) admitted that they usually do not read books. Among the reasons mentioned: other priorities and lack of time (44%), poor eyesight (25%), lack of need (20%), preference for other content formats (9%)," the survey says. According to the survey, a third of readers (33%) read a few books per year, representing the occasional reader, while a quarter (25%) of respondents read between six and 10 books per year. A total of 29% of Russian citizens read more than 11 books per year, so-called avid readers, the survey showed. More than half of Russians said they read for rest, pleasure and entertainment (57%), and the rest (43%) for learning something new and personal development. The respondents also noted the importance of reading for work or school (23%), taking their minds off problems (19%), filling their free time (14%), maintaining conversations (9%), finding solutions to specific tasks (8%) and falling asleep faster (6%). "The key barriers named by the people surveyed are not a lack of interest in reading or not enough interesting topics, but a lack of time (58%), high book prices (18%) and competition with other media formats such as audio and video content (15%). Some Russian readers also mention difficulties with concentration: some are distracted by other people, while others find it hard to focus (14% each)," the survey added. The nationwide telephone survey "VCIOM-Sputnik" was conducted on March 7-8, 2026, with 1,600 Russian respondents aged 18 and older participating in it.