Provinces with the Highest & Lowest Levels of Reading Enthusiasm in Indonesia

Reading is a window to the gates of civilization. The civilization of a nation can be determined by the knowledge and intelligence produced by the population of a region. The more people who have good literacy skills, the higher the civilization. The literacy rate of the world's population in recent centuries has increased dramatically. In 1820, only 1 in 10 people in the world could read and write. However, now only 1 in 10 people are still illiterate.

For the Indonesian people, building a civilization from a culture of reading is quite a challenge. However, one of the figures of nationalism, Bung Hatta, once said, "I am willing to be imprisoned as long as I am with books. Because with books, I am free". This is one piece of evidence that even in the past, the Indonesian founding fathers realized the importance of literacy. Even when he was about to be exiled in 1935, Bung Hatta asked the colonial government to bring along his books.

If reading used to be synonymous with books or print media only, now in the digital age, all information is easily available, such as on the internet and other electronic media. With easier access to reading information, interest in reading should increase.

Perpusnas conducted a survey on the Level of Reading Interest (Tingkat Kegemaran Membaca) in Indonesia to 11158 respondents spread across 102 districts/cities. Reading Interest is the level of behavior or habits of the community in obtaining knowledge and information from various forms of media that can be carried out independently by local governments within a certain period of time. The reading level of Indonesian people in 2023 (66.67) has increased compared to 2022 (63.90). This means that the reading interest of the Indonesian people is getting better. Yogyakarta Province is the region with the highest reading level in Indonesia with a score of 73.27. In addition, the results of this survey also show that the reading time of Indonesian people is 1 hour 37.8 minutes per day. If converted, Indonesians spend up to 9 hours 56 minutes reading each week.