Comment by vzaliva
5 days ago
> Russians are essentially the only truly literate people left. The vast majority of Russians read regularly, more than anywhere else in the world.
Not really.
According to Nielsen, 59% of Russians read at least weekly. High, but not the highest in the world, and behind China:
https://nielseniq.com/global/en/insights/commentary/2017/maj...
Several European countries have a very strong reading rates, some exceeding 70% of adults reading books annually:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/d...
There's a (very) big difference between reading weekly and reading a book in the past 12 months. I used to read a book or two in the past 12 months, back then it was on vacation to have something to do while lounging on the beach. Today I read a book every month and it's something I do instead of watching TV. I would not call my younger self a reader.