"The aim of the report has been to identify data about reading habits of the population in a selection of countries, then to summarise them. Our hope is that this report will form an empirical base and a starting point for further research and discussions regarding this important topic for the international publishing industry. The results can be summed up as the following: There is a global and clear trend that the traditional reading of books has declined over the last 20 years; The level of decrease in reading varies from country to country; In many countries the curve has flattened, and there is now a slight increase; The decline is strongest in the younger age groups, specifically for older youth and young adults; Women generally read more than men. Older readers are the most faithful readers; More readers read fewer books than before; More readers read less frequently; The number of readers who read every day is decreasing, while the number of readers reading several times a week is increasing; The number of non-readers is declining; Several countries show an increase in leisure reading; There are plenty of reading stimulation activities directed at children, fewer for adults; Reading stimulation activities are often quantitative, such as reading competitions rewarding the highest amount of read pages; Many reading activities are directed at children and aim to stimulate reading during holidays; There are also reading measures that have a qualitative focus, for example days focusing on reading out loud, book purchasing or particular dissemination activities; • Book donations are important in many countries in order to augment the selection of books." (Executive summary)