There’s a simple statistic that often stops people in their tracks.

It is this: Reading for pleasure as a child is the factor that studies show is more closely correlated with future success than anything else — even more than family background, wealth, schooling or peer group.

But in America right now fewer children than ever are reading for pleasure: The percentage fell from 53% in 2012 to 39% in 2022, according to a study by the National Endowment for the Arts. This mirrors data from the National Center for Education Statistics and from around the world. Levels of reading for pleasure among children were solid in every report until 2011, when they started to see a precipitous decline.

It’s probably not a coincidence that 2011-12 was the time that smartphone adoption became prevalent in the U.S., with almost half of the adult population owning a smartphone by the end of 2012, and two-thirds owning one by 2015. The statistics for the decline in reading for pleasure are inversely proportional to those that track the number of hours of smartphone usage. These now amount to roughly nearly 5 hours a day for an average American, with younger adults clocking in around 7 hours.

For everyone involved in book publishing — writers, illustrators, translators, publishers, booksellers, printers — this decline in reading for pleasure is one of the most significant existential concerns. To some extent, it’s currently masked because a smaller subset of “fanatics” are buying more books than ever. We love and cherish these readers, and we don’t underestimate their positive effect for authors and the industry. But there are swaths of America where people are reading dramatically fewer books than before, and this broadly, and worryingly, corresponds to socioeconomic status.

A study in 2025 of more than 200,000 Americans found that the recent declines in reading for pleasure were steeper among Black Americans, lower-income groups, people with less education and those in rural areas. The decline in boys and men reading for fun was also steeper than that for girls and women.

We have strong data to show that kids often like to read books that reflect their lives. Books that reflect the lives of many kids are being banned across many states in school and public libraries, which would logically also have a negative effect on reading.

To give an idea of the scale of this, PEN America has documented 22,800 instances of book bans across 45 states and 451 school districts. The statistics show that the books targeted are largely those by authors of color and/or LGBTQ+ authors, meaning many kids now are not able to read about characters who reflect their day-to-day lives and personal experiences. Children of color are a majority in the U.S.

Additionally, there are a growing number of “book deserts” where access to written materials is simply not available to many people in high poverty areas. According to the American Consortium for Equity in Education, 45% of kids in the U.S. live in a book desert.

America knows that eating five servings of fruit and vegetables per day is good for health. America knows that exercise is good for fitness. But I suspect most Americans do not know that regularly reading for pleasure is scientifically proven to improve mental well-being, increase empathy and protect against dementia.

Crucially, helping a child to explore the magic of reading is the single most helpful thing any parent or caregiver can do to maximize their chances of future success. Even just 10 minutes of reading for pleasure a day has been shown to have enormous benefits. In data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, kids who read for pleasure score substantially higher, even adjusted for family background. And there’s more: Kids who read for pleasure experience “vastly improved mental health,” according to a National Literacy report.

A campaign in the book industry, Raising Readers, aims to make these facts more widely known. Our slogan is “Reading is golden” — a nod to the fact that we do not believe reading should be seen as a competitor to scrolling on a smartphone, but instead as an antidote to it, respite from the mental toll that all-day digital presence can take on anyone.

Reading stands alone, offering unique benefits and pleasure. Sometimes that pleasure can be hard-won — it’s not a simple, instant dopamine hit — but it’s enduring and long-lasting. We remember the books we loved as a child for the rest of our lives. Can we say the same for a meme we enjoyed, or a social media post?

To get into the swing of reading, routine is important for busy families, which is why we’re suggesting starting with just 10 minutes of reading with a child per day. This could be a bedtime ritual or even a chapter of an audiobook on the way to school. Where we can, we are also trying to get books to those who need them the most in book deserts and through partnerships with Little Free Libraries, among others.

So, in the same way you might hand a child an apple to eat, give them a book and read it to them or with them as it might be the most powerful thing you can do to improve their life. And if you want to improve your own mental well-being, why not take some time out of your day to get back into reading?

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David Shelley is chief executive of Hachette Book Group and Hachette UK.

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