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BOOKS

Not read a book lately? Blame Netflix, says German study

Are you all caught up on your favourite Netflix show, but that novel on your nightstand is gathering dust? You're far from alone, according to a German study released on Thursday decrying a "dramatic" decline in book readership as more time is spent online.

Published: 8 June 2018 08:31 CEST
Not read a book lately? Blame Netflix, says German study
A woman reading a book in a Frankfurt park. Photo: DPA

The number of people buying books in Germany plummeted by nearly 18 percent between 2013 and 2017, the study commissioned by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association found.

The drop was even steeper at 24 to 37 percent among those aged 20 to 50 — the same age group that now spends more than three hours a day on the internet.

“There's growing social pressure to constantly react and be tuned in so you don't get left behind,” Boersenverein head Alexander Skipis said in a statement accompanying the study, titled “Book buyers, where are you going?”.

Streaming services like Netflix with their binge-worthy television series in particular “exert a great appeal” and frequently replace books as a pastime, it said.

The findings are likely to make for grim reading in a country that prides itself on being well-read and is home to the world's largest book fair.

The study, for which the GfK polling firm questioned 25,000 people, revealed that the long-held truism that every second German was a book buyer no longer stood up.

Last year just 44 percent of Germans over the age of 10 — or 29.6 million people — bought a book.

On a brighter note for the industry, those that are still bookworms are reading and spending more than before.

The average customer bought 12 books last year, up from 11 in 2013. The total amount spent jumped from around €117 to €137.

The story is similar among e-books, with customer numbers slipping nearly eight percent between 2016 and 2017 to 3.5 million, but the amount of titles purchased per person went up.

Reacting to the findings, the Publishers and Booksellers Association said the industry should seize the opportunity to present books as an antidote to today's hectic, digital world.

“People are yearning for a time-out,” said Skipis, stressing that all age groups reported having a “very positive” attitude towards books.

Some respondents offered their own suggestions for how to better incorporate books in their lives.

These ranged from apps that made personalized recommendations to encounters with fans and authors to make the reading experience more interactive, and putting books in unexpected places like the gym.

SEE ALSO: 10 German books you have to read before you die

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NORWAY

Over one in ten children live in low-income households in Norway

The proportion of children who live in low-income households has increased steadily since 2011, rising to just over one-in-ten, according to a report from Statistics Norway.

Published: 29 March 2021 16:10 CEST
Over one in ten children live in low-income households in Norway
Photo: Annie Spratt on Unsplash

The report found that there a total of 115,000 children belong to households in low-income groups. This is around 11 percent of all children in Norway.

“Studies show that people born into low-income families have in increased risk of being left behind in several areas of living, among other things, growing up in low-income shows a connection with negative health outcomes. It has been shown that young people’s mental health is affected by belonging to a low-income family,” the report states.

In its article on the data, Statistics Norway defines “persistent low income” households as having “under 60 percent of [national] median average [income] over three years”.

Children with an immigrant background have accounted for more than half the children from persistent low-income groups since 2013. This is despite only accounting for 18 percent of all children. Nearly 40 percent of children with immigrant backgrounds belong to low-income households, according to the Statistics Norway figures.

“This has a clear connection with the fact that households with a weak connection to the labour market are exposed to low income,” the report said.

Families with a Syrian background had the highest proportion of low-income households with almost nine-out-of-ten children coming from low-income families. Meanwhile, the largest group of children in number are those with a Somali background with over 11,000 of these children living in low-income households. Children with an Eritrean background saw the largest jump.

READ ALSO: Immigrants in Norway more likely to be affected by loneliness 

The report indicated that the reason behind these groups having large numbers of children belonging to low-income households was because the average number of people in the household with an occupation was less than one between 2017 and 2019.

Those with Lithuanian and Polish backgrounds saw decreases of children in low-income households. Children from these countries, as well as Sri Lanka, India and Bosnia-Herzegovina averaged 1.5 people employed in the household in the same period.  

Single parents are much more likely to be found in low-income groups, as are families with three or more children. 

The areas with the largest municipalities were most exposed to low income. Sarpsborg, in southern Norway, overtook Drammen as the municipality with the largest proportion of low-income children with 19.1 percent.

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