Newspaper Subscriptions in Japan Fall below 50 Pct for 1st Time
Tokyo, Oct. 11 (Jiji Press)--The newspaper subscription rate in Japan fell below 50 pct for the first time ever, a survey has found. According to the fiscal 2026 survey by the Japan Press Research Institute, the proportion of respondents who have monthly subscriptions for newspapers dropped 0.3 percentage point year on year to 49.8 pct, the first reading below 50 pct since the survey starte...
Tokyo, October 11 - For the first time in survey history, newspaper subscriptions in Japan have fallen below the 50 percent mark, according to a report from the Japan Press Research Institute. The survey, conducted between July 17 and August 16 of this year, found that 49.8 percent of respondents had monthly newspaper subscriptions, a 0.3 percentage point decrease from the previous year.
This is the first time since the survey began in 2008 that the subscription rate has fallen below the 50 percent threshold, which stood at 88.6 percent in its inaugural year. The survey, now in its 19th iteration, polled 5,000 individuals aged 18 and above across the country, with a response rate of 2,676. The share of respondents who consumed news from newspapers in a week also dipped below 50 percent for the first time, at 49.7 percent.
Television programs from commercial broadcasters topped the list of news sources, with 84.2 percent of respondents relying on them, followed by the internet at 74.4 percent, and public broadcaster Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) at 69.7 percent. Radio ranked fifth, with 27.6 percent of respondents relying on it. The latest survey also asked questions about the cabinet of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for the first time, who assumed office in October 2025.
Written by urgent.news from Nippon.com News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
