Where do libraries loan out the most books?

Jul 15, 2019

With the collaboration of Statista.

Institute Library (C) is seen at Tokyo Institute of Technology in Tokyo, Japan July 14, 2016. REUTERS/Toru Hanai AUNIV - S1BETRRWHNAB

Some countries like their books more than others.

Image: REUTERS/Toru Hanai

Niall McCarthy

Data Journalist, Statista

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Where do libraries loan out the most books? Interestingly, there are actually statistics about the number of books loaned every year in major cities around the world. They are compiled by the World Cities Culture Forum and the following infographic provides an overview of the cities loaning out the most books. The Tokyo Metropolitan Library reported that readers in the Japanese capital checked out nearly 112 million books in 2017. Shanghai had the second highest volume with 86 million books (in 2016).

Image: Statista

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