Children without own books ‘reaches four million’
Children's literacy may be affected by the results of a new study which has found that almost four million children in the UK do not own a book.
According to research gathered by the National Literacy Trust, one in three schoolchildren aged between eight and 16 years old do not have a book of their own – an increase from one in ten seven years ago.
Jonathan Douglas, the director of the National Literacy Trust, said: "We know there is a direct correlation between book ownership and children's reading abilities.
"With one in six in the UK struggling with literacy it is very worrying that many children could be missing out."
He added that of the 18,000 children surveyed by the trust, those without the personal possession of a book cause a concern around academia.
A recent study by the government found that almost 17 million people aged over 16 struggles to cope with simple maths and English tasks such as paying household bills and reading labels on food products.
