Is reading for pleasure declining, and does it matter?

Reading for pleasure is the reading nobody makes you do. No test, no worksheet, no reading log to sign. It is also the kind that has fallen furthest among children in the UK, and the kind researchers keep linking to better outcomes. Here is what the numbers actually say, why it matters, and what tends to help.

Is reading for pleasure declining?

Yes, over twenty years, though 2026 brought the first uptick in a while. The National Literacy Trust has asked children aged 8 to 18 the same question since 2005: do you enjoy reading in your free time? In 2026, 36.1% said “very much” or “quite a lot”, up from 32.7% in 2025.^[1]

Put that in context. Enjoyment was 51.4% in 2005, rose to a peak of 58.6% in 2016, then fell, with a sharper drop after 2019 and particularly low levels in 2024 and 2025.^[1] So the 2026 rise of 3.4 percentage points is welcome, and still leaves enjoyment far below where it was a decade ago.

Daily reading tells the same story. In 2026, 20.3% of 8 to 18-year-olds said they read something daily in their free time, up from 18.7% in 2025. In 2005 it was 38.1%.^[1] The 2026 survey drew on 125,375 children and young people from 479 schools.^[1]

Who has stopped reading for pleasure?

Mostly early teenagers, boys, and children from poorer homes. Enjoyment is highest among 5 to 8-year-olds (61.6% in 2026), dips sharply into early adolescence, and is lowest at 11 to 14.^[1] More girls than boys enjoy reading, with a gap of around 13.5 percentage points that did not close in 2026.^[1]

The gap by family income widened. Among children receiving free school meals, enjoyment rose only from 31.0% to 32.1%; among those who did not, it rose from 33.0% to 37.3%.^[1] And among the youngest children, the dip in 2026 was driven by boys: enjoyment for 5 to 8-year-olds overall slipped from 62.6% to 61.6%.^[1]

Why is reading for pleasure declining?

Nobody has proved a single cause, and the survey itself does not claim one. The honest answer is that free time is contested. Phones, games and streaming are all designed to hold attention, and a book has to compete with them in the same evening. Our piece on why you can’t finish books anymore looks at the adult version of the same squeeze.

What the survey does show is that enjoyment and habit travel together. Around half of children who enjoyed reading read daily (49.8%), compared with just 4.5% of those who did not.^[1] When enjoyment drops, the daily habit tends to go with it.

Does reading for pleasure matter?

Yes, the evidence points that way, with a caveat about cause and effect. The largest recent study used data from more than 10,000 young adolescents in a US national cohort. Children who began reading for pleasure early and kept it up scored higher on cognitive tests and had lower mental health problem scores in early adolescence, with socio-economic status controlled for.^[2]

The same study found these children had moderately larger total cortical area and volume, and that early reading for pleasure was linked over time to higher crystallised cognition (roughly, accumulated knowledge and vocabulary) and fewer attention symptoms at follow-up.^[2] Around 12 hours a week of regular reading for pleasure came out as the cognitive sweet spot.^[2]

The caveat: this is mostly observational. Children who read a lot may also have more books at home, more conversation and more settled routines. The authors used extra methods to probe causation, but no study like this can fully separate reading from everything that comes with it. Treat it as a strong signal, not a guarantee.

Does reading for fun improve school results?

It is linked with them, and the government treats it as part of how reading is taught. The Department for Education’s reading framework, non-statutory guidance first published in July 2021 and last updated on 22 September 2023, includes developing a reading for pleasure culture among its aims for primary and lower secondary schools.^[3] It is guidance, not law, so schools are not legally bound to follow it.

In July 2025 the Department for Education also announced a National Year of Reading for 2026, delivered with the National Literacy Trust, citing the finding that only one in three 8 to 18-year-olds enjoyed reading in their free time in 2025.^[4] That is a campaign, not a statutory duty.

How do you encourage a child to read for pleasure?

Choice first, pressure last. These are the habits that tend to help, at home or in a home-ed week:

1. Let them choose. The National Literacy Trust’s 2025 survey found children were most drawn to reading linked to films or TV they love (38.1%) and to their interests and hobbies (37.1%), and over a quarter (26.6%) valued simply being free to choose.^[5] A football annual counts. So does a graphic novel.
2. Keep books within reach. On the sofa, in the car, by the bed. A book that has to be fetched competes badly with a phone that is already in a pocket.
3. Read aloud, even to older children. It is not only for toddlers. Sharing a chapter at bedtime keeps stories pleasurable when reading alone feels like work.
4. Count audiobooks. Listening builds the same understanding of stories; our guide on whether audiobooks count as reading has the research.
5. Protect a small daily slot. Ten minutes with phones in another room is more useful than an ambitious target that collapses by Wednesday.
6. Read where they can see you. Children notice what adults do with their own spare time. Our guide on how to read more books is for the grown-ups.
7. Drop the reward charts. Tracking minutes for stickers can turn a pleasure into a chore. Let enjoyment be the point.

What stops teenagers reading for pleasure?

Time, choice and image, mostly. The age pattern in the survey is stark: enjoyment falls through the early secondary years and recovers a little after 14.^[1] In 2026 the biggest rises came among 14 to 16 and 16 to 18-year-olds, by around 6 and 8 percentage points.^[1] So teenagers are not lost to books. They tend to come back when reading is on their own terms: their genres, their formats, their pace, and no one checking.

If you want a gentle way to make reading feel like theirs, The Reading Journal gives them somewhere to keep it that is not a school log.