People in Britain watch more television and read fewer books than in any other European country. A poll of 30,000 people found that the typical Briton spends 18 hours in front of the television set every week. He or she spends only 5.3 hours reading books, magazines or newspapers.
The French watch just over 17 hours of television but read for nearly seven hours a week, while Swedes watch for 12 hours and read for 6.9 hours. The Spanish watch 15.9 hours of television, the Germans 15.2 hours and Italians 14.9 hours.
These are some of the results of a survey of 30 countries conducted by research company NOP World.