This report presents the results from the literature segment of the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, conducted by the Census Bureau in 2002 at the NEA's request. The survey asked more than 17,000 adults if during the previous 12 months they had read any novels, short stories, poetry or plays in their leisure time, that were not required for work or school. The report extrapolates and interprets data on literary reading and compares them with results from similar surveys carried out in 1982 and 1992. Sample findings from Reading at Risk include:

• Literary reading is in dramatic decline with fewer than half of American adults now reading literature.
• All age groups showed declines in literary reading between 1982 and 2002, however, the largest rate of decline is among the young.
• Despite the decline in literary reading, the report notes that the number of people doing creative writing has increased by 30 percent.

(This document is the National Endowment for the Arts Research Division Report No. 46.)

This report presents the results from the literature segment of the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, conducted by the Census Bureau in 2002 at the National Endowment for the Art's request.