European geographies of reading

Imagine a 4 star all-inclusive hotel on a Mediterranean island. The guests obviously are a relatively homogeneous population: couples with pre-teen or young teenager kids, better educated and wealthier than average. More than this, their income should have been pretty similar.

My unsystematic observations, fully confirmed by my wife's, display a dully north-south discrepancy:

• almost all Germans, British, and Poles were reading books;
• French were also fervent readers, but, as compared to others, they preferred magazines;
• Italians and Spaniards were laying in the sun.

Now, let see the Eurostat figures, knowing that comparison might be biased due to different population structures (i.e. some countries are far better educated as compared to others; some are wealthier than others; etc.). Also, some people may buy books from the neighboring countries.

I was actually surprised of the good fit. I would have expected lower consumption in the East, but there should probably be another effect given by the size of budget…

Note: The indicators are taken or derived from the Eurostat's Cultural statistics, 2011 edition. The graphs are drawn by myself.