Continued decline in newspaper reading in Norway

Statistics Norway reports today (April 1) that the trend of fewer newspaper readers has continued from 2007 to 2008. A total of 71 per cent of the Norwegian population logged on to the Internet on an average day in 2008; an increase of 5 percentage points from 2007. Fewer watched TV in 2008 than previously. Other media use changed just slightly between 2007 and 2008.

The number of people reading printed newspapers on an average day has fallen in recent years. From 2007 to 2008, there has been a further decline, from 72 per cent in 2007 to 68 per cent in 2008. The decline took place particularly among the middle aged and older part of the population. On the other hand, Internet use is still growing. The percentage of the population who use the Internet on an average day increased from 66 to 71 per cent among persons aged 9-79 from 2007 to 2008. The increase was larger among adults than the young groups and larger among women than men.

Fewer TV viewers

The proportion of people watching television on an average day has also declined somewhat in recent years. Norwegians watched television for 2 hours and 22 minutes per day in 2008, ten minutes less than the year before. They spent 1 hour and 20 minutes per day listening to the radio in 2008, the same as in 2007.

Read more books

The percentage of book readers on an average day was 17 in 1997. This has subsequently increased. In 2008, the figure was 23 per cent, the same as in 2007. The number of persons who read weeklies and cartoons on an average day has changed little from 2007 to 2008. The number reading magazines increased slightly.

Source: Statistics Norway