"This report highlights publishers’ activities and progress that relate to each of the 17 SDG goals. In some cases, these activities are core to what publishers do best, for example ensuring quality education. For other goals, such as clean water, the activities may be more indirect, and this repo ... rt has been instrumental in expanding our perception of the broad range of ways in which publishers contribute to the SDG agenda. In each goal, there are reoccurring themes that are required as a basis in order to achieve the set targets. For example, there are clear links between improving literacy and ending extreme poverty. This executive summary will help make articulate these themes and also highlight areas where the industry can drive progress. The key findings are summarised below: 1. Content is king: What we publish remains core to progress the SDG agenda [...]; 2. Equal opportunities for all: the power of diversity and inclusion [...]; 3. Building smarter generations: Education remains a key focus [...]; 4. Stopping climate change: Publishers are getting serious about their footprints [...]; 5. Let’s work together: Partnership and collaboration remain important." (Executive summary) more

"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 inter ... national 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) more