Ireland tops European table for online book purchases

Ireland had the highest share of residents in the EU buying printed books, magazines or newspapers online, new figures show 

Overall, almost 15% of EU residents reported purchasing printed books, magazines or newspapers online

Despite surging popularity for audiobooks and e-readers, traditional print continues to dominate the market, new figures from Eurostat show. 

The data released by the statistics agency on Wednesday shows Ireland leads to way on a European level, with it having the highest share of residents buying printed books, magazines or newspapers online.

At over 28%, Ireland was followed by the Netherlands, where 23.5% of residents bought traditional printed media online, and Luxembourg, at 22.7%.

By contrast, the lowest shares were reported in Cyprus at just 2%, Latvia at 03.8% and Romania at 5.3%.

Overall, almost 15% of EU residents reported purchasing printed books, magazines or newspapers online in the three months before the Eurostat survey, more than double the 6.8% who downloaded e-books or audiobooks.

For e-books and audiobooks, the highest shares were also reported in Ireland at just over 22%, followed by Denmark at 19.7% and Luxembourg at just over 13.3%. Meanwhile, the lowest proportions were reported in Bulgaria at 1.8%, Latvia at 2.5%, and Romania at 2.6%.

Just three EU countries, Denmark, Cyprus and Finland, saw the share of the population who bought e-books and audiobooks exceed that of printed books.