See What the World’s Reading Habits Look Like in 2020

When most of the world went into lockdown at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people found themselves with a lot of extra free time. Some people used that time to bake bread, make crafts, or play video games. For the bibliophiles of the world, quarantine was the perfect chance to burn through their pile of books to read. This infographic shows how reading habits changed across the globe in 2020.

The editing and proofreading service Global English Editing gathered these statistics from various sources, including Pew Research and Amazon's bestsellers page. It found 35 percent of web users worldwide reported reading more during the pandemic, and 14 percent said they read significantly more. This trend was most dramatic in China, where 44 percent of respondents said they increased their reading time due to the coronavirus.

This uptick became apparent in March 2020, when many countries implemented coronavirus lockdowns for the first time. There were 1.51 billion visits to book and literature e-commerce sites that month—an 8.5 percent increase from the month before. As for what books people are reading, apocalyptic fiction like Stephen King's The Stand has been popular in the age of COVID-19.

For a full snapshot of the world's reading habits at this point in history, check out the infographic below.