Via the wonderful booktwo.org blog comes this map where the size of each territory shows the number of new book titles published each year*.
“Each new book published is counted only once on this map, regardless of how many copies it sells… A book is defined as having at least 50 pages; a pamphlet has 5 to 49 pages. Publications with fewer than 5 pages are not shown on this map. Worldwide, about a million new book titles were published in 1999, with the largest numbers published in the United Kingdom, China and Germany. Overall, the map is dominated by Western Europe, which is home to a number of well established publishing houses. [* Books titles published, number per million people, 1999.]”
booktwo.org adds:
The data is over a decade old, but I’d wager the proportions are still reasonably accurate, despite the massive growth of publishing in India and other developing nations. Europe, and particularly Britain still publishes too many books.
From The Atlas of the Real World
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