Children and Young People's Reading in Scotland in 2023

This report looks at the reading engagement of children aged 8 to 18 in Scotland, based on data gathered from 1,141 pupils across eight schools in 2023. The survey was conducted between January and the middle of March 2023. Slightly more girls (58.8%; n = 635) than boys (41.2%; n = 445) participated from Scotland. There is also data from 33 children and young people who would rather not share their gender and 28 who would describe themselves in another way. More children and young people aged 11 to 14 (78.5%, n = 896) took part, followed by those aged 14 to 16 (11.8%, n = 135) and then those aged 8 to 11 (6.1%, n = 70). Forty (3.5%) young people aged 16 to 18 also took part. In Scotland, just 41.5% of the children and young people taking part in the survey stated that they enjoyed reading. [The report was produced in collaboration with Scottish Book Trust.]