Book Week
Book WeekFlash 90

Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics in honor of Hebrew Book Week published on Monday data on Israelis' reading habits.

Hebrew Book Week will begin on Wednesday, June 7.

Twenty-nine percent of the survey's respondents aged 16-65 reported that they don't read books at all. However, 21% of the respondents said they read books every day, and another fifth of the population (19%) said they read books at least once a week, but not every day.

The total number of book-reading respondents - 40.1% - is greater than the OECD's average of 37.2%, ranking Israel 14th out of 28 countries.

Women read more books than men, with 47% of women reading a book, fiction or non-fiction, at least once a week, compared to only 34% of men who read the same amount.

Nearly half of the Arab population (49%) does not read books at all, whereas only 24% of the Jewish population said the same.

The number of Arabs over age 55 who read is significantly lower than the number of Arabs aged 16-24 who read: 63% of Arabs over age 55 do not read at all, whereas 40% of Arabs aged 16-24 do not read at all.

Two-thirds (67%) of respondents who said they had over 500 books at home when they were 16 years old, read books at least once a week. Meanwhile, 19% of respondents who had 10 or fewer books at home said they read at least once a week.

Seventy-two percent of haredi respondents said they read at least once a week, compared to 40% of irreligious or secular respondents who said the same.

Higher income Israelis are more likely to read: Of those who earn 4,000-5,999 NIS per month, the number of respondents who do not read at all is 35%. Meanwhile, 15% of those who earn more than 17,000 NIS per month do not read.

Twelve percent of those between the ages of 16-65 who are employed either full- or part-time read books - fiction or research - at least once a week for the purpose of work.