The Briefing
- Survey data from 10 different countries shows that a majority of people still prefer print books over e-books.
- 42.5% of respondents purchased at least one print book in 2020—that’s significantly more than the 15.5% who’d bought at least one e-book.
- Out of the 10 countries surveyed, Germany has the most print book lovers. 58% of German respondents bought a print book in 2020.
The Staying Power of Print Books
E-books are certainly not a new phenomenon. In fact, they’ve been around longer than the internet.
Yet, while the emergence of e-books dates back to the early 1970s, they didn’t hit the mainstream until the 2000s, when big companies began launching their own e-book readers, and digital libraries started to become more accessible to the public.
Around this time, sales for e-books started to soar, and by 2013, e-book sales made up 20% of all books sales in America. Many wondered if this was the end for print books.
But fast forward to 2021, and e-books haven’t made print books obsolete. At least, not yet.
E-book versus Print Book Purchases
A recent poll found that people still favor print books over e-books, at least when it comes to their purchasing behavior.
Of the 10 countries included in the survey, an estimated 42% of people had purchased at least one print book in 2020, while only 15.5% had bought an e-book that same year.
Here’s a look at all 10 countries, and the estimated share of their population who bought physical versus e-books in 2020:
| Country | Physical Books | E-books |
|---|---|---|
 China |
32.0% | 24.4% |
 United States |
44.5% | 22.7% |
 United Kingdom |
48.7% | 20.0% |
 Japan |
40.1% | 17.3% |
 South Korea |
34.6% | 16.8% |
 Australia |
41.2% | 15.9% |
 Spain |
49.3% | 14.3% |
 Germany |
58.0% | 10.4% |
 France |
52.1% | 7.5% |
 India |
24.5% | 5.6% |
| Average | 42.5% | 15.5% |
China had the highest portion of e-book lovers—an estimated 24.4% of its population purchased an e-book in 2020, which is more than 8 percentage points higher than the average across the whole list.
On the other end of the spectrum, e-books are least popular in India, where an estimated 5.6% of the country’s population purchased an e-book in 2020. Keep in mind, the country has a lower percentage of book purchasers in general.
Why Print Has Prevailed
Why are print books still more popular than e-books? There are many theories. One study suggests that readers retain information better from a print book versus an e-book, while other consumer surveys found that e-books haven’t yet managed to fully simulate the tactile experience of a print book.
However, while e-books might not eradicate print books entirely, the market for digital books is expected to grow in the near future. By 2025, global revenue from e-books could reach $18.4 billion, with 1.2 billion users across the globe.
Where does this data come from?
Source: Statista
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