[Find updated statistics for 2018 here]
Every winter, BookNet runs a survey to find out what Canadians have been up to in their free time throughout the previous year. We asked 750 respondents from across the country a few general questions about their favourite leisure activities in 2017, but the focus was primarily on their book-reading and book-listening habits.
This is what we found out.
How Canadians are spending their leisure time
Since 2017, fewer Canadians are choosing to browse the internet (24%) in their free time and are instead electing to spend time with family (27%) and watch TV (26%). Reading is now the fourth most popular choice (21%), followed by watching a movie (18%), however, this survey took place before Black Panther hit theatres.
It's also worth noting that some people may classify watching Netflix differently, as it is a combination of watching TV, watching a movie, and browsing the internet.
Have Canadians read a book in the last year?
In our most recent survey, 81% of respondents said they had read or listened to a book in the last year, and though the percentage is still decreasing, the drop has not been too dramatic.
Has your reading increased or decreased from the previous year?
While 33.5% of respondents said that their amount of book reading/listening has increased in the last year, 47.6% of readers maintained the same reading habits, and 18.7% of readers said that they read less frequently than they did in 2017.
Read part two of our leisure study find out more specific statistics about Canadian reading habits!
Sales and library circulation data of science fiction titles during the third quarter of 2024.