People continues to enjoy readership of newspapers

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 19: The people of Kerala, the highly literate state in the country, maintained interest in reading as about 90 per cent of people enjoy news papers, periodicals and books.

A survey conduced by the state library council found that 90 per cent of Keralites above 15 years of age were regular readers of newspapers and other periodicals, rejecting the various entertainment programmes on hundreds of TV channels distributed through cable network.

The survey was conducted on 2,07,900 families spread over five municipal corporations, 53 municipal towns and randomly selected panchayats in 63 taluks in the state.

It was revealed in the survey that 7.9 per cent of the population above the age of seven was illiterate.

In the state 91.62 per cent of the male population is literate and 6.48 illiterate.

In the case of women, it is 88.66 per cent and 9.41 per cent respectively.

It also found that Pathanamthitta topped with 95 per cent in reading habit and Ernakulam came second with 94 per cent.Wayanad was relegated to the last position with 81.34 per cent.

UNI