Books published per country per year
This page lists the number of book titles published per country per year from various sources. According to UNESCO, this is an important index of standard of living, education, and of a country's self-awareness. No standardised way to track the number of books published exists which can make it difficult to compare countries or track the industry as a whole. One method is to track how many International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs) are registered by each country.
List of countries
In descending order of number of new titles per year, as of the latest year available, sometimes "new titles and editions"
Rank | Country | Year | Titles | Notes | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | United States | 2013 | 275,232 | New titles and re-editions | |
2 | China | 2013 | 208,418 | New titles and re-editions | |
3 | United Kingdom | 2020 | 186,000 | ||
4 | Japan | 2017 | 139,078 | New titles and re-editions | |
5 | Indonesia | 2020 | 135,081 | ||
6 | Italy | 2020 | 125,948 | ||
7 | Russia | 2019 | 115,171 | ||
8 | France | 2018 | 106,799 | ||
9 | Iran | 2018 | 102,691 | New and revised | |
10 | India | 2013 | 90,000 | total: revised editions not included; 26% in Hindi, 24% in English, and the rest in other Indian languages | |
11 | Turkey | 2020 | 88,975 | ||
12 | Spain | 2020 | 83,622 | ||
13 | Germany | 2018 | 79,916 | ||
14 | South Korea | 2018 | 63,476 | New | |
15 | Brazil | 2018 | 46,829 | ||
16 | Taiwan | 2010 | 28,084 | 43,258 total | |
17 | Vietnam | 2009 | 24,589 | ||
18 | Ukraine | 2019 | 24,416 | ||
19 | Egypt | 2019 | 23,000 | ||
20 | Poland | 2015 | 21,130 | 34,920 total | |
21 | Australia | 2020 | 19,241 | ||
22 | Portugal | 2020 | 18,925 | ||
23 | Mexico | 2020 | 18,713 | ||
24 | Colombia | 2017 | 17,066 | 18,508 total | |
25 | Netherlands | 2014 | 16,502 | Only physical Dutch new titles | |
26 | Czechia | 2020 | 16,474 | ||
27 | Malaysia | 2015 | 15,354 | Declined since 2013 at 19,987 | |
28 | Romania | 2008 | 14,984 | ||
29 | Serbia | 2020 | 14,901 | ||
30 | Hong Kong | 2005 | 14,603 | ||
31 | Norway | 2020 | 14,114 | ||
32 | Belgium | 1991 | 13,913 | ||
33 | Bulgaria | 2019 | 12 194 | ||
34 | Switzerland | 2001 | 12,156 | ||
35 | Singapore | 2007 | 12,000 | ||
36 | Argentina | 2019 | 11,514 | ||
37 | Denmark | 2020 | 10,715 | ||
38 | Canada | 2020 | 10,433 | ||
39 | Finland | 2020 | 10,208 | ||
40 | Hungary | 2019 | 9,589 | ||
41 | Greece | 2020 | 9,583 | ||
42 | Slovakia | 2006 | 9,400 | ||
43 | Austria | 2020 | 8,711 | ||
44 | Israel | 2013 | 8,411 | ||
45 | Belarus | 2020 | 8,205 | ||
46 | Sweden | 2021 | 8,118 | 30,857 total | |
47 | Chile | 2020 | 7,058 | ||
48 | Peru | 2020 | 6,885 | ||
49 | Thailand | 2018 | 6,750 | Only trade sector data; educational sector data not available | |
50 | Estonia | 2020 | 5,809 | ||
51 | South Africa | 1995 | 5,418 | ||
52 | Slovenia | 2020 | 5,076 | ||
53 | Moldova | 2020 | 4559 | ||
54 | Ecuador | 2020 | 4,153 | ||
55 | Sri Lanka | 1996 | 4,115 | ||
56 | Algeria | 2008 | 3,955 | ||
57 | Pakistan | 2012 | 3,811 | Total; 2,943 in Urdu and 868 in English | |
58 | Morocco | 2018/2019 | 3,677 | ||
59 | Myanmar | 1993 | 3,660 | ||
60 | Lithuania | 2019 | 3,479 | ||
61 | Uruguay | 2018 | 3,231 | ||
62 | Afghanistan | 1990 | 2,795 | ||
63 | New Zealand | 2020 | 2,526 | ||
64 | Saudi Arabia | 2014 | 2,387 | ||
65 | Latvia | 2020 | 2,375 | ||
66 | Venezuela | 2018 | 2,275 | ||
67 | Costa Rica | 2018 | 2,158 | ||
68 | Lebanon | 2020 | 2,000 | ||
69 | Luxembourg | 2001 | 2,000 | ||
70 | Dominican Republic | 2018 | 1,866 | ||
71 | Ireland | 2020 | 1,773 | ||
72 | Iceland | 2019 | 1,767 | ||
73 | Bolivia | 2018 | 1,578 | ||
74 | Philippines | 1996 | 1,507 | ||
75 | Kyrgyzstan | 2018 | 1,455 | ||
76 | Nigeria | 1991 | 1,314 | ||
77 | Kazakhstan | 1996 | 1,226 | ||
78 | Syria | 2004 | 1,138 | ||
79 | Guatemala | 2018 | 1,042 | ||
80 | Paraguay | 2018 | 1,007 | ||
81 | Uzbekistan | 1996 | 1,003 | ||
82 | Eritrea | 2015 | 970 | ||
83 | Panama | 2018 | 940 | ||
84 | Cyprus | 1996 | 930 | ||
85 | Cuba | 2020 | 728 | ||
86 | Tunisia | 1996 | 720 | ||
87 | El Salvador | 2018 | 661 | ||
88 | Georgia | 1996 | 581 | ||
89 | Azerbaijan | 1996 | 542 | ||
90 | Jordan | 1996 | 511 | ||
91 | Malta | 2020 | 511 | ||
92 | Turkmenistan | 1994 | 450 | ||
93 | Fiji | 1994 | 401 | ||
94 | Armenia | 1996 | 396 | ||
95 | Albania | 1991 | 390 | ||
96 | Kenya | 1994 | 300 | ||
97 | United Arab Emirates | 1993 | 293 | ||
98 | Uganda | 1996 | 288 | ||
99 | Mongolia | 1992 | 285 | ||
100 | Ethiopia | 1991 | 240 | ||
101 | Zimbabwe | 1992 | 232 | ||
102 | Vatican City | 1996 | 228 | ||
103 | Qatar | 1996 | 209 | ||
104 | Kuwait | 1992 | 196 | ||
105 | Tanzania | 1990 | 172 | ||
106 | Botswana | 1991 | 158 | ||
107 | Tajikistan | 1996 | 132 | ||
108 | Papua New Guinea | 1991 | 122 | ||
109 | Madagascar | 1996 | 119 | ||
110 | Malawi | 1996 | 117 | ||
111 | Palestine | 1996 | 114 | ||
112 | Namibia | 1990 | 106 | ||
113 | Honduras | 2018 | 102 | ||
114 | Brunei | 2009 | 91 | ||
115 | Laos | 1995 | 88 | ||
116 | Benin | 1994 | 84 | ||
117 | Mauritius | 1996 | 80 | ||
118 | Réunion | 1992 | 69 | ||
119 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 1992 | 64 | ||
120 | Andorra | 1994 | 57 | ||
121 | Suriname | 1996 | 47 | ||
122 | American Samoa | 1980 | 46 | ||
123 | Guyana | 1996 | 42 | ||
124 | Monaco | 1990 | 41 | ||
125 | Bahrain | 1996 | 40 | ||
126 | Ghana | 1992 | 28 | ||
127 | Nicaragua | 2018 | 27 | ||
128 | Libya | 1994 | 26 | ||
129 | Angola | 1995 | 22 | ||
130 | Gambia | 1996 | 14 | ||
131 | Mali | 1995 | 14 | ||
132 | Burkina Faso | 1996 | 12 | ||
133 | Oman | 1996 | 7 |
TOTAL: approximately 2,210,000
Countries by ISBN
Many published books have an ISBN and it is a useful measure for how productive a country's publishing industry is. However, this data is not collected for all countries. It may not represent the total number of books a country has published, as not every registered ISBN is then used and as books may have multiple ISBNs.
Rank | Country | 2018 |
---|---|---|
1 | United States | 3,485,322 |
2 | United Kingdom | 185,721 |
3 | Germany | 139,940 |
4 | Italy | 137,397 |
5 | India | 129,326 |
6 | Russia | 103,826 |
7 | Brazil | 95,336 |
8 | Japan | 95,129 |
9 | Indonesia | 89,056 |
10 | Spain | 86,872 |
11 | Turkey | 67,135 |
12 | Canada | 61,000 |
13 | Mexico | 27,635 |
14 | Argentina | 27,428 |
15 | Colombia | 20,867 |
16 | Thailand | 20,484 |
17 | Norway | 9,209 |
18 | Netherlands | 6,143 |
19 | Ecuador | 4,744 |
20 | Nigeria | 2,465 |
21 | Guatemala | 1,137 |
22 | Honduras | 388 |