Pastimes

Reading and Internet[edit]

Eighty-eight percent of Thai people read books and spend an average of 28 minutes per day doing so, according to a poll^[11] conducted by the Thai Publishers and Booksellers Association (PUBAT) and Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Economics and Research Centre for Social and Business Development.

A total of 3,432 Thais aged 15–69 in 12 provinces, including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thamarat, Nakhon Ratchsima, and Khon Kaen, were interviewed from December 2014 to January 2015. While 88% of Thai respondents said they read books, 12% said they did not. They cited as reasons lack of time, bad eyesight, and dislike of reading.

Averaged over the entire population, Thais spend 28 minutes a day reading books. The reading sub-set of the population averages 46 minutes a day. Of this group, those aged under 20 spend the most time reading books, 56 minutes a day. That figure shrinks as people age until they reach 61, when people tend to get back into reading.

By comparison, 71% of Thais use the Internet almost everyday for an average of 92 minutes. Those who spend most time on the Internet are people under 20, on average 224 minutes a day, while those over 61 spend ten minutes a day on-line.

In 2013 the Thai National Statistical Office conducted a reading survey^[12] that found that Thais aged over six spent an average of 37 minutes a day reading. The survey was not focused specifically on reading books, but also reading journals, the Internet, tablet computers, and smart phones.