440,000 NZ adults forgo books

442,600 Kiwi adults didn’t read a book in the past year.

That is up from the 394,000 adults that didn’t read a book in 2016.

The study also found the number of men reading was declining, although the number of women reading stayed the same.

In this day and age, reading was competing – and not winning – with a number of other activities, such as watching shows on Netflix which were considered ‘‘more exciting’’, Cribb said.

As an organisation, Cribb said Reading NZ was doing whatever it could to make reading ‘‘cool again’’.

For parents, it was important that children saw them reading books and books were read to them to pique their interest.

Seeing someone reading on a bus or someone a person admires reading may also increase a person’s interest in reading too, she said.

Cribb said there was an expectation that all people knew how to read.

Many people who cannot read believe illiteracy is something to be ashamed of and didn’t speak up as a result, she said.

But for the Kiwi adults who do enjoy reading, some read up to 50 books a year.

Most popular books are crime, thriller and adventure stories, Cribb said.

Earlier this year, Mcdonald’s did its bit to encourage children to read more by replacing toys in Happy Meals with a book by Roald Dahl. The fast food chain dished out 800,000 copies of the books, saying its Happy Meal readers programme was all about helping parents to get their children to enjoy reading.