By Andrew Richard Albanese, Editor-in-Chief
In a recently released survey report, leading European audiobook platform Storytel found more evidence to connect book consumption and “overall wellbeing.”The 2026 Story Report, a new study from Storytel, surveyed more than 5,000 respondents across five European markets (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Poland, and Bulgaria) finding that those who read and listen to books reported the highest levels of wellbeing.
Among the survey’s key findings:
- There’s a connection between book consumption and wellbeing: the survey found that the more books someone reads or listens to, the higher their wellbeing, with “the effect of listening” proportionally larger. Between 84% and 93% of daily or weekly listeners agreeing that audiobooks “contribute to improving their wellbeing.” Norway’s daily and weekly listeners reported the highest impact, at 93%.
- Audiobooks help people finish more books: between 55% to 68% of users cited “doing other things at the same time” as their primary reason for starting to listen to audiobooks—the top reason in every market—with 53% to 71% of listeners across all five countries reporting that they finished more books since they started listening to audiobooks.
- Reading and audiobook listening are antidotes to screen time: more than half of respondents in each country—52% to 59%—reported feeling that they spend too much time on screens, with between 63% and 79% of parents saying that audiobooks are a “vital alternative” for their children to reduce screen time.
“We don’t just read to escape our busy lives; we read to enrich our lives. This report confirms the meaningful impact of books in all formats as a daily habit,” said Storytel Group CEO Bodil Eriksson Torp, in a foreword to the survey results. “Most importantly, our research shows that the more we read or listen, regardless of format, the better we feel.”
The report was commissioned by Storytel and conducted by Trackit Insight, a Stockholm-based independent research agency to explore “the relationship between consumption of stories, audiobook habits, and wellbeing across five European markets. Data were collected through online panel interviews in April 2026, with a total of 5,077 adult respondents (18-79) across the five participating countries—approximately 1,000 per market.
The report comes as concerns continue to grow globally about declines in reading for pleasure. In the U.K., saw the launch of a National Year of Reading campaign aimed at addressing a reported steep decline in reading amongst children, young people, and adults. And last week, in the U.S., The Atlantic ran a long article announcing the arrival of the “postliterate” age, provocatively entitled The End of Reading Is Here.