Children reading fewer, less challenging books, UK and Ireland study finds | Books | The Guardian

The 2024 What Kids Are Reading Report surveyed more than 1.2 million pupils across the UK and Ireland, revealing a 4.4% decrease in the number of books read by pupils. According to the study, this decline in reading is "particularly acute" in secondary schools, and affects the difficulty of books being read as well as the volume.

The pupils surveyed were shown to read progressively more challenging books until year 6. After that, the difficulty level of books being read tended to plateau until year 9, before a "sharp drop" in the difficulty of those read by older secondary students.

This is the first year since the research began in 2008, apart from the first year of the pandemic, that there has been a decline in the number of books read.