“The number of China’s readers and the total time Chinese spent reading saw a significant increase in 2018,” read an article in China Daily based on a new report from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. The number of Chinese readers increased by almost 30 million.

With China being the most highly populated country in the world with a total population of 1,420,062,022 and the official literacy rate hitting well above ninety percent, what do these numbers say? Comparing readers’ population seems difficult. However, another study does show that India still stands above China in hours spent reading per person per week.