23% of population never read a newspaper

23.4 per cent of the population aged 16 and over have never read a newspaper, while 31.5 per cent read one every day, according to a "cultural participation" survey carried out by the National Statistics Office between November, 2000 and January last year.

The statistics, released yesterday, show that Malta still has some way to go before it equals newspaper readership trends in North America.

A survey carried out by the Newspaper Association of America last year shows that the average daily newspaper readership stood at 51.7 per cent.

The NSO survey, designed on definitions outlined by Eurostat, took a simple random sample of 970 people. The target population addressed stood at 308,441 aged over 16.

The survey was conducted by personal interviews and there was an overall response rate of 82.5 per cent. The reference year was between November 1, 1999 and October 31, 2000.

Another interesting statistic is that 86.2 per cent said they preferred to speak in Maltese.

Maltese was also the preferred language for watching television (45 per cent) and listening to radio (82.4 per cent).

On the other hand, English was the preferred language for reading books (61.1 per cent); magazines (70.9 per cent) and listening to songs (58 per cent).

Other figures which emerged from this survey show that 32.2 per cent of the population used a computer at least once a week and of these, 61.2 per cent accessed the internet.

One of Malta`s favourite pastimes is going to the cinema, with nearly 50 per cent.

32.3 per cent said they attended at least one sport activity. Of these, 44.9 per cent were men and 20.1 per cent were women.

Watching television is another popular pastime, with 28.9 per cent watching two to three hours per day. Listening to the radio is another way of passing the time, with 67.7 per cent tuning in every day.

On the other hand, 21.9 per cent said they read at least one book for their studies during the reference year, while 44.1 per cent said they read at least one book for other reasons, such as leisure.

Libraries do not seem to be popular with the population, with a measly 7.61 per cent saying they visited a library for study purposes at least once during the reference year and 13.9 per cent going at least once for leisure.

The full results of the Kultura 2000 survey will be launched tomorrow at a seminar organised to discuss these findings, at St James Cavalier in Valletta at 5.30 p.m.