National Literacy Trust Report: Children and Young People’s Listening in 2024
Key Findings – Audiobooks offer hope amid children’s reading for pleasure crisis
In a new report out today (Tuesday 25 February 2025), the National Literacy Trust (NLT) has highlighted how listening to audio could provide a gateway into reading and reading enjoyment for many young people.
According to the Children and young people’s listening in 2024 Report, children’s enjoyment of listening has risen in the past year (from 39.4% to 42.3%), surpassing children’s enjoyment of reading for the first time since the charity started asking children about their listening enjoyment in 2020. This comes in a troubling landscape of a decline in children’s reading for pleasure in recent years, with just 1 in 3 (34.6%) 8 to 18-year-olds saying they enjoy reading in their free time.
The new research into children’s listening habits in 2024 indicates that almost 2 in 5 children and young people said that listening to an audiobook had sparked their interest in reading books, while more of those who enjoyed listening to audio also enjoyed reading in their free time, compared with those who didn’t enjoy listening (52.4% vs. 36.0%).
Even more benefits of audiobooks
This report provides hope that listening to audiobooks could provide a crucial gateway into reading and reading enjoyment for many children and young people.
The research also found that when children and young people listen to audiobooks and podcasts in their free time, their learning, creativity and wellbeing can benefit.
Half of children and young people said listening to an audiobook or podcast enabled them to better understand a story or subject (48.4%), made them use their imagination more than when watching videos (52.9%) and helped them relax or feel better when they were stressed or anxious (52.0%).
Crucially, 37.5% of children and young people agreed that listening to an audiobook has got them interested in reading books – a statistic that offers welcome hope amid a time of decline in children’s reading enjoyment.
Gender gap
Interestingly, the findings show that some groups who are disproportionately impacted by the reading for pleasure crisis, such as boys, particularly stand to benefit. Indeed, the substantial gender gap in boys’ and girls’ reading enjoyment (28.2% vs 40.5%) reverses direction when it comes to audio, with slightly more boys than girls saying they enjoy listening to audio (43.4% vs 40.4%). This is markedly different to the much more significant gender gap in reading and writing enjoyment.
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Responding to the findings
The report writers emphasise that alongside reading, writing and speaking, supporting positive listening attitudes and behaviours plays an essential role in developing children and young people’s literacy. Advancing the National Literacy Trust’s previous call for the government to prioritise reading for pleasure in its Curriculum and Assessment review, the charity is advocating for increased access to, and abroadening of, the variety of reading formats available to pupils to include audio; with primary school library provision one way to deliver this, in line with the Libraries for Primaries campaign. This will further support pupils’ literacy development and help them build key skills that can deepen their learning and improve their wellbeing and overall academic performance.
Jonathan Douglas CBE, Chief Executive of the National Literacy Trust, said:
“In recent years, we’ve seen a steady rise in children’s enjoyment of listening to audio and uncovered the myriad of benefits it can bring – from sparking a love of reading and supporting literacy development, to deepening learning and boosting wellbeing. So many families, schools, libraries, charities, publishers, businesses, and more, are already inspiring children’s reading in such diverse and innovative ways. By working together to leverage children and young people’s enthusiasm for audio, we can play an important role in growing a generation of readers and turning the page on the nation’s reading for pleasure crisis.”
To support this aim, the charity has curated a range of audio resources to help teachers and families boost children’s enjoyment of reading through listening to audio: literacytrust.org.uk/audio.
BooksForTopics introduces audiobook links
In line with today’s findings, which indicated the important role audiobooks can play in developing children and young people’s literacy, the BooksForTopics website has recently introduced the addition of audiobook links to its book pages and booklists. Where audiobooks are available, you will see an audio link next to the other purchasing links on the individual book pages and booklists.
For example, of the 50 books on our Year 6 Recommended Reading list, 32 of the books now have audiobook links available, including popular Y6 books such as Skandar and the Unicorn Thief and Artemis Fowl or classic Year 6 choices like Tom’s Midnight Garden and the Year Six favourite classroom story choice Skellig, as well as audio versions of books in different formats such as the graphic novel New Kid and the fascinating non-fiction book Human 2.0. We’ve added audio links to all of our Year Group Recommended Reading booklists, including our brand new Year 7 Recommended Reading list. Given the hope offered by the new National Literacy Trust research linking audiobooks to increased reading and reading enjoyment for many young people, we’re sure that schools and families will see the introduction of audio links as a welcome addition to the extra book information already provided by BooksForTopics.
We’ve also been adding audio links to our curriculum booklists, and this will continue to be a priority in the light of the new NLT research indicating that 48.2% of children and young people agreed that listening to audio made it easier to understand a subject or story.
To easily try out using the new Audible links on the BooksForTopics website, we suggest making the most of Audible’s free trial to receive a free audiobook of your choice or Audible membership to receive monthly credits and access to the audiobook catalogue.
About the National Literacy Trust
The National Literacy Trust is an independent charity that empowers children, young people and adults with the literacy skills they need to succeed. Reading, writing, speaking and listening skills give you the tools to get the most out of life, and the power to shape your future. For over 30 years the National Literacy Trust has continued to support schools, families and communities on a local and national level to help people change their stories. Find out more: literacytrust.org.uk
You can access the new report and additional resources here.
Where next?
> Visit our Reading for Pleasure Hub.
> Browse our Topic Booklists.
> See our Books of the Month.
> View our Year Group booklists