Majority of univ. students don’t read books: poll

February 27, 2018

Tokyo- A majority of university students in Japan do not read books for pleasure, an annual survey by the National Federation of University Co-operative Associations showed Tuesday.

In the 2017 survey, 53.1 percent of the students said they do not read books at all, exceeding 50 percent for the first time since the federation started collecting such data on reading in 2004.

"An increasing number of students have not developed the habit of reading until they are in high school. This had a significant impact on the survey results," said Koji Hamajima, associate professor at Doshisha University, who analyzed the survey data.

The 53rd survey on the university students' life conditions, conducted in October and November, covered a total of 10,021 students at 30 public and private universities across Japan.

The number of students who said they do not read at all for pleasure rose 4.0 percentage points from the previous year, up 18.6 points over the past five years.

A total of 48.6 percent of students majoring in humanities said they do not read. The share of students with no reading habit stood at 54.5 percent in science faculties and 62.6 percent in medical, dental and pharmaceutical faculties.

The average daily reading time of students dropped 0.8 minute to 23.6 minutes, falling for the third straight year.

Of those with part-time jobs, 54.5 said they do not read, exceeding 49.4 percent of students who are not working.

On how much money students spend on books per month, the average amount of those living in their parents' home stood at 1,340 yen, while the figure was 1,510 yen for those living away from their parents, both the lowest since 1970.

The survey also found that students use smartphones for 177.3 minutes a day on average, up 15.8 minutes.

"No strong direct correlation was observed between the declining reading hours and the use of smartphones," Hamajima said, noting that students who read a lot also tend to use smartphones a lot. Jiji Press