Over Half Of Romanians Bought No Books In 2009 – Survey

The survey was presented by Monica Stroe, researcher with the Romanian Center for Cultural Study and Research, within the campaign "In search for famous readers," which was recently set off by the Ministry of Culture to promote reading among youngsters.

Stroe talked about the book consumption dynamic in recent years, based on market research during 2005-2009.

The survey indicates music and film consumption was also on downward trend in 2009, with 71% of respondents saying they spent no money on films in 2009, compared with 53% in 2008, and 63% of respondents saying they spent no money on music in 2009, compared with 30% in 2008.

Also, 56% of respondents said they bought no books in 2004, 55.4% said they read no books in 2004 and nearly 5% of Romanians never buy books, as they only borrow or receive books.

The survey also shows that 87% of books purchased in 2004 were bought by regular consumers - nearly 22% of Romanians buy at least one or two books per month. Thus, only 9% of people (the segment of population buying more than two books per month) purchase 62% of books sold on the market.

According to data compiled last year, 34% of respondents do not read books, paper columns or magazines, and 22% read once or twice per month.

The 2005 Cultural Consumption Barometer regarding the role played by libraries indicates half of libraries' clients read books on a daily basis, and 25% of the country's entire population read books on a daily basis. Also, 51% of libraries' clients first buy books from bookstores and then borrow books from the library.

The Center established four reader profiles, as follows:

The first profile targets career-driven people aged 21 to 30, mostly women, employees with university degrees or university students living in urban areas (mainly in towns in the country's western, center and northwestern region), whose parents have university or high school degrees.

The second profile targets occasional readers, namely, housewives, workers, free lancers, without university degrees.

The third profile targets book buyers aged 40 to 50 with high school degrees, who moved from the countywide to towns and possess large bookcases (over 500 books).

The fourth and last profile targets people interested in books for educational purpose or out of sheer necessity. People included in this category live in rural areas without public cultural infrastructure.

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