No Spanish Reading Crisis?
A recent study by the Spanish Federation of Publishers shows that reading for pleasure in Spain has reached record highs, contradicting the narrative of a global literacy crisis. The data suggests that young people in Spain are reading more than ever, defying trends observed in Anglo-Saxon countries.
Why it matters
It challenges the prevailing cultural narrative that digital technology and social media are universally destroying reading habits among the youth.
A study conducted by the Federación de Gremios de Editores de España earlier this year , however, paints a starkly different picture of readership in Spain. According to the study, the percentage of the overall Spanish population that reads for pleasure has increased every year since 2017, reaching 66% in 2025, the highest level ever recorded. Meanwhile, the percentage of the population between 15 and 24 that reads for pleasure rose to just over 76%, a rate that (in the words of the authors of the study) “helps dispel one of the false myths that persists in our [Spanish] society, which holds that young people do not read.” Spanish readers are not immune to the transformations associated with the literacy crisis: the rise of social media platforms, the proliferation of video and audio content, the advent of generative AI.
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