A new study by the Pew Research Center reveals that nearly a quarter (23%) out of 1,501 American adults surveyed did not read a book in whole or even in part last year. This observation holds no matter what the format – paper book, e-book or even audio book.

While Americans’ lack of interest in reading has fluctuated over the years, the trend is not improving. In 1978, the Gallup Institute found that 42% of American adults had read 11 or more books in one year. At that time, 13% of them even said they had devoured more than 50 books.

Nearly half a century later, the conclusion is clear: the American bookworm is an endangered species.

National bibliophobia?

But who are the millions of Americans who ignore books? They are a more diverse group than one might imagine.

According to the survey, several demographic traits are linked to not reading, among them educational attainment. Adults with less than a college education are much more likely to have not read a book in the past 12 months than those with a college degree (39% vs 11%).

Americans of an ethnic minority tended to read less last year than whites, a surprising trend for African Americans given that the Pew Research Center claimed in 2014 that, in the United States, the person most likely to read a book – regardless of format – was a Black female with a degree.

In addition, adults whose annual household income is less than US$30,000 are more likely than those living in households earning US$75,000 or more a year to be non-book readers (31% vs 15%).

The study also found that Americans over 50 read less than their younger counterparts (28% vs 19%). One might have expected this to be the demographic group most attached to books, but it seems a number of them suffer from bibliophobia, not unlike Donald Trump.

Journalist Michael Wolff explored the former US president’s reading habits in his bestseller “The Fire and the Fury”, in which he claimed “some believed that for all practical purposes he was no more than semi-literate”.