Less than half of parents find it fun to read aloud to their children, new research shows.

Only 40% of parents with children aged 0 to 13 agreed that “reading books to my child is fun for me”, according to a survey conducted by book data company Nielsen and publisher HarperCollins.

The survey shows a steep decline in the number of parents reading aloud to young children, with 41% of 0- to four-year-olds now being read to frequently, down from 64% in 2012.

A significant gender disparity was identified, with 29% of 0- to two-year-old boys being read to every day or nearly every day compared with 44% of girls of the same age.

“Being read to makes reading fun for children”, said Alison David, consumer insight director at HarperCollins. “So, it’s very concerning that many children are growing up without a happy reading culture at home. It means they are more likely to associate reading with schoolwork, something they are tested on and can do well or badly, not something they could enjoy.”

Gen Z parents are more likely than millennial or Gen X parents to say that children’s reading is “more a subject to learn than a fun thing to do”. HarperCollins said that parents in this age group grew up with technology themselves, so may think “fun comes more from digital entertainment than from books”.

However, most Gen Z parents still overwhelmingly see children’s reading as a fun activity, with 31% saying reading is more a fun thing to do than a subject to learn and 35% saying reading is equally a subject to learn and a fun thing to do, compared with 28% who said reading is more a subject to learn.

The survey asked 1,596 parents with children aged 0-13 about reading in December 2024.

HarperCollins said that many parents focus on the literacy element of reading, seeing it as a skill, rather than encouraging a love for reading in their children.

Some parents stop reading to their children once they can read by themselves, assuming that their children will choose to continue reading, or that if they continue to read to their child who can already read, “it will make them lazy and less likely to read independently”, reads a report accompanying the survey. “None of these beliefs are true.”

A third of parents with children aged 0 to 13 reported wishing they had more time to read to their children, and the number of parents saying their children have too much schoolwork to read books has risen significantly, from 25% in 2012 to 49% in 2024. However, 44% of all parents agreed with the statement that “reading books to my child makes me feel close to them”.

“The good news is when children are read to frequently, they very quickly come to love it and become motivated to read themselves”, said David. “Children who are read to daily are almost three times as likely to choose to read independently compared to children who are only read to weekly at home. It’s never too late to start, or resume, reading with children.”

The survey results come as the Publishers Association, in its capacity as the secretariat of the all-party parliamentary group on publishing, releases its proposals for how to revive children’s enjoyment of reading, based on evidence submitted by publishers, reading charities and other groups.

The report suggests that the Department for Education ensures the curriculum prioritises reading for enjoyment alongside reading skill development, and says that teachers should be able to access training on how to “confidently and sensitively” teach texts by writers of colour, among other recommendations.