Reading increasing in popularity among Thais, survey shows

According to a new survey, 78 percent of the population or 50 million people in Thailand read, with the most avid readers between the ages of 15 and 24.

The statistics show that Thais on average read for 66 minutes per day, compared to 37 minutes two years ago.

“Judging from these statistics, people should forget the idea that ‘Thais only read eight lines a year’, because people are actually reading a lot more and the time they spend reading is only increasing,” Wattanachai Winichakul, chief of TK Park’s academic department said.

Newspapers remain the most popular reading material at 67.3 percent followed by online media/SMS/emails at 51.6 percent, according to the survey.

The top three subjects are news, general knowledge and entertainment.

A total of 96.1 percent of the respondents read books and newspapers, while 55 percent choose digital media, reported the Nation.

The reasons why 14 million people do not read include preferring to watch TV (41.9 percent); dislike for reading (24.8 percent) and illiteracy (20.6 percent).

The survey was conducted by Thailand Knowledge Park (TK Park) and NSO on 55,920 households from May-June 2015.



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