Are Children Really Reading Less? What the Evidence Tells Us
For generations, reading has occupied a central place in education, associated with academic achievement, intellectual development and social opportunity. Yet concerns about children's declining engagement with books have become increasingly prominent, with educators reporting difficulties sustaining reading habits and researchers documenting changes in both reading enjoyment and achievement.
The evidence suggests that these concerns are not entirely misplaced, although the scale and nature of the problem require careful interpretation. Major international assessments indicate declining reading performance in many education systems, while surveys reveal that fewer young people regularly choose to read for pleasure. However, reading frequency, enjoyment and literacy proficiency measure different things, and their trajectories do not always move together. To understand whether children are really reading less, we must examine not only how much they read, but what they read, how confidently they understand it and the conditions shaping their relationship with written language.
1. The Decline in Reading Enjoyment Is Real, but Not Universal
One of the clearest indicators comes from the UK's National Literacy Trust Annual Literacy Survey, which has tracked children's reading attitudes since 2005. Its 2026 study gathered responses from more than 125,000 children and young people, finding that 36.1% of those aged 8–18 enjoyed reading in their free time, compared with 32.7% in 2025. Daily reading also increased modestly, from 18.7% to 20.3%.
These improvements are encouraging, particularly following several years of declining engagement. Nevertheless, both measures remain substantially below earlier levels, suggesting that a single year's recovery should not be mistaken for a reversal of the longer-term trend. The findings also reveal inequalities between different age groups and socioeconomic backgrounds, reinforcing the importance of examining which children are becoming disconnected from reading rather than relying exclusively on national averages.
Similar patterns appear in the American Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report. Its eighth edition found that only 28% of children aged 6–17 read books for pleasure on five to seven days each week. Reading enjoyment also varied considerably with age, falling from 70% among children aged 6–8 to 46% among those aged 12–17.
The distinction between these studies matters. The National Literacy Trust tracks changes over time, while Scholastic's findings highlight the relationship between reading engagement and children's developmental stages. Together, they suggest that declining reading enjoyment is a genuine concern, but one shaped by age, opportunity and circumstance rather than a universal rejection of books.
2. International Assessments Reveal a Deeper Literacy Challenge
Reading enjoyment tells us how children feel about books, but it cannot establish whether their reading skills are improving or deteriorating. For that, international assessments provide an additional and potentially more concerning perspective.
The OECD's PISA 2025 results reveal that average reading performance among 15-year-olds declined by approximately 25 points across 35 OECD countries between 2018 and 2025. Although individual countries followed different trajectories, the overall pattern indicates a substantial deterioration in reading proficiency, continuing a decline that began before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Evidence from younger students points towards similar difficulties. The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's PIRLS 2021 study, which examined primary-school reading achievement internationally, found that 21 of 32 participating education systems with comparable results experienced declining performance between 2016 and 2021. Eight showed no significant change, while only three improved.
National assessments reinforce this picture. In the United States, the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that average reading scores for both fourth- and eighth-grade students had declined by two points since 2022. Among fourth-grade students, just 31% reached or exceeded the assessment's Proficient benchmark.
These findings should not be interpreted as proof that children are reading less because they are spending more time online. Literacy achievement is influenced by numerous factors, including teaching quality, educational disruption, socioeconomic conditions and opportunities to develop language and comprehension skills. Nevertheless, the consistency of declining outcomes across several assessments suggests that the challenge extends beyond changing recreational preferences.
3. Digital Media Is Changing Reading, but the Relationship Is Complicated
Digital technology has become one of the most frequently cited explanations for declining reading engagement. The argument appears straightforward: children have more entertainment available than ever before, much of it designed to capture attention through video, games and constantly refreshed content. Reading, particularly extended reading, must compete within this increasingly crowded environment.
Recent evidence demonstrates the scale of that competition. Common Sense Media's 2026 Census, based on a nationally representative American survey, found that teenagers typically spend approximately eight hours each day using screen media for entertainment, while tweens spend around five hours. On the day surveyed, only 45% of tweens and 23% of teenagers reported reading for pleasure.
Such findings raise legitimate questions about how children allocate their leisure time. However, they do not establish that digital media directly causes declining literacy. Time spent watching videos, communicating online or playing games cannot be treated as equivalent activities, and children's digital experiences vary considerably in purpose and educational value.
The distinction becomes even more important when considering digital reading itself. An additional National Literacy Trust analysis published in 2026 found that print fiction reading among 8–18-year-olds had declined between 2017 and 2025, while digital fiction reading remained comparatively stable. Digital formats may therefore provide an alternative route into reading, particularly for children who feel less connected to conventional books.
4. Reading Inequality May Be as Important as Reading Decline
National averages can obscure an essential feature of the reading debate: children do not have equal opportunities to develop strong literacy habits. Access to books, supportive reading environments, appropriate instruction and time for independent reading varies across households, communities and education systems.
The National Literacy Trust's 2026 findings illustrate this uneven experience, with improvements in reading enjoyment differing according to socioeconomic background. International assessments similarly demonstrate that reading outcomes cannot be understood independently of wider educational inequalities. Students who struggle to establish foundational literacy skills may encounter increasing difficulties as schoolwork becomes more dependent on independent comprehension and subject-specific reading.
Reading motivation and achievement can also reinforce one another. Children who read confidently may be more willing to explore challenging material, while those who experience repeated difficulties may gradually avoid opportunities to practise. This creates a potential cycle in which differences in reading confidence and engagement become increasingly difficult to address.
There are important implications for educational policy. Campaigns encouraging families to read more may contribute to positive attitudes, but they cannot substitute for effective literacy instruction, accessible libraries or targeted support for students experiencing difficulties. Similarly, improvements in national reading scores may conceal persistent disadvantage if progress is concentrated among children who already benefit from stronger educational resources.
5. The Bigger Picture: Are We Measuring the Right Reading Crisis?
Taken together, the evidence supports a qualified conclusion: children's reading engagement has declined over longer periods in several major surveys, and reading achievement has deteriorated across many education systems. Yet these findings describe related rather than identical problems, and neither can be explained adequately through a single narrative about children abandoning books for screens.
For education systems, the challenge is therefore broader than restoring an earlier culture of book reading. Schools must ensure that children develop strong foundational literacy while maintaining opportunities to experience reading as an enjoyable and intellectually rewarding activity. Policymakers must also recognise that reading engagement depends on educational access, family circumstances and children's changing experiences of information.
The evidence leaves considerable room for optimism. The National Literacy Trust's 2026 results demonstrate that reading enjoyment can improve, while international differences in achievement suggest that decline is neither inevitable nor identical across countries. However, meaningful progress will require sustained attention to both literacy proficiency and the conditions that encourage children to read independently.
If children are encountering more information than previous generations, but showing less enthusiasm for sustained reading, should education systems prioritise restoring traditional reading habits or reconsider what it means to be a proficient reader in the digital age? Let us know in the comments below.
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