A comprehensive analysis from the National Endowment for the Arts shows that less and less Americans, young and old, turn the pages of a book “for fun” or “for pleasure.”

The National Endowment for the Arts followed up its “Reading at Risk” study from 2004, which found that fewer than half of Americans over 18 read novels, short stories, plays or poetry, with the new “To Read or Not To Read” study, which attempted to be significantly more comprehensive and include all reading done by Americans - fiction and nonfiction genres in various formats such as books, magazines, newspapers, and online reading, according to a press release from the NEA.

It was for this specific purpose that the NEA selected studies that asked questions about “reading for fun” or “time spent reading for pleasure,” saying that this could refer to a range of reading materials, reports the New York Times.

“The new NEA study is the first to bring together reliable, nationally representative data, including everything the federal government knows about reading,” said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. “This study shows the startling declines, in how much and how well Americans read, that are adversely affecting this country's culture, economy, and civic life as well as our children's educational achievement.”

Gathering statistics from more than 40 studies on the reading habits and skills of children, teenagers, and adults, the study had disheartening findings.

American adolescents and young adults read less often and for shorter amounts of time compared with other age groups and with Americans of previous years. Less than one-third of 13-year-olds read on a daily basis, while 19 percent of 17-year-olds are non-readers, according to NEA’s study.

On average, Americans ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading, the study found.

The decline in reading is linked with poorer reading scores, especially among teenagers and young males. The average reading score of 9-year-olds has improved though, on a happier note. Reading scores for 12th-grade readers fell significantly from 1992 to 2005, with the sharpest declines among lower-level readers. Furthermore, a gender gap has been widening since 1992, with female 12th-graders faring better than their male counterparts.

Looking at data from the workplace, the report showed how nearly two-thirds of employers ranked reading comprehension “very important” for high school graduates, yet 38 percent deemed most high school graduates deficient in this basic skill.

From 1992 to 2003, the percentage of adults with graduate school experience who were rated proficient in prose reading dropped by 10 points, a 20 percent rate of decline, the study found.

“This report shows striking statistical links between reading, advanced reading skills, and other individual and social benefits,” said Sunil Iyengar, NEA Director of Research and Analysis. “To Read or Not to Read compels us to consider more carefully how we spend our time, since those choices affect us individually and collectively.”

To Read or Not To Read assembled data on reading trends from more than 40 sources, including federal agencies, universities, foundations, and associations; among these were the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, UCLA etc.