In 2022, 39.3% of people aged 6 and up read at least one book in the previous year for reasons other than academic or professional (compared to 40.8% in 2021). ISTAT's recent report "Reading books and using libraries - Year 2022" highlights this as one of the interesting data points. The institute emphasized the gender disparity: 44% of female readers and 34.3% of male readers. According to the report, reading is more prevalent in the central-northern regions: in 2022, 46.1% of people in the North, 42.4% of those in the Centre, and 27.9% of those in the South read at least one book. The educational qualification gap is wide: the ratio of those with a degree to those with only a middle school diploma is four readers to one.
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