The 9th Book Night is being held online for the first time today and it includes about 200 programmes. They also published an annual research of readership in Croatia.

Readership in Croatia has increased by seven percent over the past year from 42 percent to 49 percent last year, according to the results of a Book Reading and Purchase Study conducted by the Kvaka – Agency for Creative Analysis in March this year on a representative sample of thousand respondents. 

Thanks to the enthusiasm of organizations and individuals whose ultimate goal is to increase readership and purchase of books, there is a visible shift in their efforts. These 49 percent of readers refer to the percentage of people in the Republic of Croatia aged 16 and over who have read at least one book in the past year, with the exception of compulsory literature in schools - Tamara Kraus from the Kvaka Agency explains.

The greatest number of readers are those who read two books in a year. Women are more likely to read books, 55 percent of them, also people aged 26 to 35, 60 percent of them, and high-educated people, 78 percent.

Read books are mostly borrowed from libraries (44 percent) or purchased (38 percent), and are mostly purchased by younger people between the ages of 26 and 35 and those with higher household incomes. When it comes to the type of books read, there is no major change from last year - still the most read is fiction (65 percent), followed by journalism and professional / scientific books (27 percent each) and manuals (22 percent). Fiction is more frequently read by women (78 percent) and the elderly from 56 to 65 (75 percent), while publicity is preferred by people aged 46 to 65 (36 percent) and highly educated (35 percent).

There is a definite trend of stagnation when it comes to buying books in Croatia: 23 percent of Croatian citizens have purchased at least one book in the last three months, which equals the results of the past four years (24 percent in 2019 and 25 percent in 2018 and 2017) ). Those who buy books usually buy one book in three months. More often than not, books are bought by people aged 26 to 35 (36 percent), highly educated (46 percent), while the percentage of those who buy books increases with the increase in household income. Books are still most commonly bought in bookstores (47 percent), followed by kiosks (18 percent) and online shopping (15 percent), and the analysis of places of purchase from 2013 to the present shows a trend of increasing online book purchases (4 percent in 2013) and the downward trend in kiosk book purchases (29 percent in 2013).

Fiction is most often bought, far more than other book categories (45 percent) and so on for years. A category of books, consisting of professional books, journalism, children's books, manuals, is purchased by 20 to 30 percent of citizens, while the third category - comic books and books by art, is purchased by less than 10 percent of Croatian citizens. The trend of buying books on discount continues, although in the last three years it has stabilized, so just over half of citizens (54 percent) buy books with a discount and the rest at full price.

DIFFERENT DEMOGRAPHIC GROUPS HAVE DIFFERENT REASONS FOR NOT BUYING BOOKS

The percentage of those who do not buy books due to lack of interest (43 percent) has fallen from previous measurements, and earlier always over half of the respondents), but still represents the most important reason why books are not purchased. About 20 percent of Croatian citizens do not buy books for financial reasons or because they borrow books at libraries.

There are differences in the reasons for not buying books in different demographic groups, so men and young people up to 35 years more often do not buy books because they are not interested, while older people (over 56) do not buy books anymore from financial reasons. Women also, more than men, do not buy books for financial reasons, while for the youngest (16 to 25 years old), library borrowing is a more common reason not to buy books than other age groups.

Although it was announced a few years ago that the e-book would replace the printed book, the share of those who read, and especially buy, e-books is stagnant and is only 2 percent. Nine percent of Croatian citizens read e-books. When in comes to Internet, for the 55 percent of the population of the Republic of Croatia daily newspapers continue to be the most sought after content on the Internet, followed by various portals and blogs with author, critical and other content – 27 percent, and blogs or groups / profiles, etc. dedicated to the book - 17 percent. It is important to note that as many as a third of the Croatian population does not even read content on the internet from time to time.