Date: 07/26/2004

Fewer than half of American adults read literature outside of work and school, according to the National Endowment for the Arts. The group analyzed data from the Census Bureau's 2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. Of the 17,000 adults in the study, 46.7 percent said they read for pleasure in 2002, compared with 56.9 percent in 1982. Education is the most important influence on reading rates, the study found: 14 percent of adults with a grade school education read for pleasure in 2002, compared with 74 percent of adults with a graduate education. Gender and family income also affect reading rates. See http://www.nationalacademies.org/headlines#sh0709.