Here we hold the Czech reading culture up to international comparison.

It turns out that Europe is a rather unheterogeneous continent in terms of reading culture, as the number of readers in the foremost countries is twice as high as the backmarker Portugal. Percentages of those who read five or more books a year were also examined, with the Czech Republic (at 41%) showing a higher average, while the front position is taken by Sweden (60%), followed by Denmark (56%), Holland and Great Britain (55%), with Greece (22%), Cyprus (20%) and Malta (19%) taking up the rear. However, in the comparison made in the two previous polls, the Czech Republic again boasts a considerable number of passionate readers, i.e. those who read 50 or more books a year (around 6%), ranking it again among the front-runners.

Table 4. Book and magazine reading – 18 countries. Source: H. Nossek – H. Adoni: “The future of reading as a cultural behaviour in a multi-channel media environment”, 2006

Country	Book reading	Magazine reading
Australia	72%	63%
Austria	72%	88%
Belgium	42%	84%
Czech Republic	79%	88%
Denmark	67%	84%
Finland	76%	97%
France	67%	83%
Germany	59%	91%
Great Britain	75%	76%
Ireland	66%	71%
Israel	85%	36%
Italy	50%	83%
Luxembourg	75%	86%
Netherlands	73%	83%
Portugal	33%	63%
Spain	47%	71%
Sweden	81%	91%
USA	50%	80%

This table reveals several patterns of readership behaviour. The most common is the one that is also displayed by Czech reading culture as a whole: magazine reading is undertaken by rather more people than book reading (e.g. Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden). The second pattern of behaviour: magazine reading is undertaken by considerably more people than book reading (e.g. in Italy, Portugal, Spain and Belgium). The third pattern: magazine reading is undertaken by fewer people than book reading (Australia and Israel).

For gender we find about the same relative difference; in comparison with other European countries, however, this is a difference above the average. In Poland a great differentiating role is played by age – which is rising as the number of readers decreases. The Czech situation does not show the same trend. We see a large fall in the 20-29 age cohort, which is reversed, however, in the subsequent cohorts. In the Czech population the difference between the highest and the lowest values is 13%, while in Poland it is 40%. Hence the Czech population proves to be far more homogeneous in its reading habits. As for conurbation size, the Polish situation is characterized by a large difference between the village and the rest of the country, while the Czech situation is distinctive for the very gradual increase in readers as the conurbation increases in size. However, although this trend is appreciable, it does not play the role of a demographic barrier. Here, too, the differences between the highest and the lowest values show greater homogeneity among the Czech population.

In both countries there is a great difference between the genders. As regards age, we see this peaking in both countries in the youngest cohort, followed by a steep fall. However, while the German curve then shows another gradual fall, the Czech one is characterized by a halt to this decrease in middle age and a revival in interest in public libraries in the over-sixties. And what are the differences between the lowest and the highest values? This is 29% among the German population and 36% among the Czechs. The German population shows itself to be somewhat more homogeneous than the Czechs with regard to attitudes towards public libraries in absolute terms. Proportionally, however, this difference levels out.

Table 5. USA (2007) and Czech Republic (2007) – age distribution of book buyers. Source: To Read or Not to Read, 2007

	CR	USA
15-24	18%	5%
25-34	20%	11%
35-44	18%	17%
45-54	19%	23%
55-64	11%	21%
65 and over	14%	23%

The workhorse of the book market in the Czech population is the middle generation, i.e. the older youngsters and the middle-aged generation, while in America it is the older generation, i.e. the older middle-aged and the elderly. The greatest differences between the Czech Republic and the USA lie in the youngest age cohort (13%). – The differences between the highest and the lowest figures are 9% for the Czech population and 17% for the American. Hence the Czech population is far more homogeneous. The American data has more of a cumulative character. The younger age category does not buy much; the middle-aged buy a medium amount; the elderly buy a lot. In contrast, the Czech curve shows a far greater dependence on economic activity: books are most bought by the middle aged, i.e. those at the economic peak, less in the youngest age category and least in the elderly category, as the period of economic activity comes to an end.

Research in other countries helps us to “read” the Czech readership situation in its broader context. What does it tell us about this situation? Do we rank among the countries with a higher-than-average proportion of people involved in reading culture, together with the Scandinavian countries, Holland, Great Britain, Canada and Israel? At least three invariable trends can be seen in our case, i.e. a strong focus on reading for educational purposes, an association between reading and the amount of income, and a large gender gap (which is somewhat larger here than in the other countries).

And now for the differences. In contrast to the Polish situation there is by no means such a large demographic barrier here; conurbation size does not play such a prominent role in Czechs’ attitudes towards reading. In contrast to the situation in Germany the Czechs have a much warmer attitude towards public libraries, while the oldest age levels in the two cultures behave quite differently: after a decrease during middle age the Czechs go back to the libraries, whereas a slight decrease carries on among the Germans. In contrast to the situation in Poland there is no age barrier in the Czech Republic: the Polish socio-cultural pattern shows a gradual decrease in reading as age progresses, while this is not at all the case in the Czech Republic. In contrast to the situation in Britain the fall in reading among Czechs aged 25-34 is far more pronounced.