E-Book Reading on the Rise at the Expense of Print Books

The number of people using e-readers is on the rise, but it seems to be at the cost of people reading physical print books.

According to research study conducted by Pew Internet,over the last year the number of people who read e-books increased from 16 to 23 percent of all Americans age 16 and older. Inversely, the number of people who read printed books over the previous 12 months declined from 72 to 67 percent of the population ages 16 and older.

It should be noted that the total number of readers in the US did fall 3 percent over the year to 75 percent of the American population, but according to the Pew Research Center the decline is insignificant and does not deter from the larger picture of readers migrating to e-readers.

As the previous statistics indicated, a substantial percent of the population now owns some form of e-reading device. The increase in e-book readers coincides with the number of people owning e-reading devices. The number of owners of either an e-reader or a tablet computer rose from 18 percent in 2011 to 33 percent in 2012. More specifically, as of November 2012 nearly a fourth of Americans age 16 and older own some form of tablet computer such as an iPad or Kindle Fire, compared to only 10 percent back in 2011. While the number of e-reader owners grew 8 percent over the course of the last year.

As the way we read books change, so do our institutions. According to the Pew Research Center more people are borrowing e-books from libraries with the numbers increasing from 3 percent to 5 percent. More importantly the awareness of e-book lending by libraries is becoming more well known as 31 percent of the population is now aware the libraries lend e-books, compared to only 25 percent late last year.

These figures are rather troubling for lovers of physical books. There is little doubt that the increased sale of e-reading devices is causing a steep decline in the number of people of read physical books. Could this eventually mean an end for physical books as we know it?

About the Study

The figures come from a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, which was conducted through Oct. 15 to Nov. 12, 2012. The study was comprised of 2,252 Americnas ages 16 and older, and the margin of error is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. 

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