A recent survey in Japan found that home subscription rates to daily newspapers fell below 50% for the first time, even while newspapers ranked second for overall media trustworthiness.
Few Young Readers
Japan's domestic dailies are losing readership as newspaper subscription rates continue to decline. The Japan Press Research Institute conducted a survey in the summer of 2026 in which it found that the share of respondents with a monthly home subscription to a daily newspaper had fallen below 50% for the first time, dipping 0.3 percentage points to 49.8%. This continues a long-term trend, with subscription rates tumbling by nearly 40 points over 18 years from 88.6% when the survey began in 2008.
By age group, the proportion of respondents with a monthly newspaper subscription exceeded 70% among those in their seventies or older, compared with around 30% each for people in their twenties and forties, and just 20% for those in their thirties.
When respondents were asked where they go for major news, with multiple responses possible, 70.4% said commercial television, followed by the internet at 64.9% and NHK television at 53.2%. Newspapers trailed at just 34.3%. Among those without a monthly newspaper subscription, 73.7% said that other sources like television and the internet were enough. Other reasons given for not subscribing to a newspaper were high subscription costs and personal reading habits.
A combined 37.9% of respondents expressed satisfaction with newspapers (“satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied”), whereas 11.2% expressed dissatisfaction (“somewhat dissatisfied” or “dissatisfied”).
Despite the ongoing decline in newspaper readership, trust in traditional media remains strong. On a 100-point credibility scale, NHK television led all media at 66.1 points, with newspapers close behind in second at 64.6 points. By contrast, both the internet and magazines failed to reach 50 points.
The survey was conducted in July and August among 5,000 people selected by random sampling from the basic resident register to prevent media bias, receiving 2,676 responses.
- Data from media survey (Japanese) from the Japan Press Research Institute
(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © IllustAC.)
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