Bookshelves Reflect Age: Teens and Twenties Choose 'Preferences,' Fifties Seek 'Life Solutions'

Analysis of Reading Tendencies and Purchase Data from 312,000 Readers:
62.8% of Teen Purchases Are Comics and Light Novels
From the 50s Onward, ‘Analysis and Information’ Prevails Over ‘Empathy and Enjoyment’
Books on Pensions, Retirement, and Investment Dominate Top Rankings
While 62.5% Are ‘Complete-Read’ Types, ‘Selective’ Readers—Who Choose Only Needed Sections—Lead in Number of Purchases and Expenditure

While comics filled the shopping cart of readers in their teens, by their twenties, books for certifications had joined the mix. Among those in their forties, children's books accounted for the largest share of purchases, and for those in their fifties and beyond, fields like economics, management, humanities, and religion took top positions in purchase rankings. Connecting the most popular books purchased by each generation reveals a life cycle that transitions from preferences, to exams and qualifications, to children, and eventually to concerns about later life and issues around living.

The purpose and method of reading books vary by generation. According to Yes24's age-specific purchase data and reading tendency analysis, people in their teens to twenties tend to concentrate on specific genres, while those aged 50 and above are more distinguished by information and practical reading. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

According to an analysis by The Asia Business Daily on September 11, based on Yes24’s book purchase data by age group, 62.8% of purchases by those under 10, excluding educational materials, were comics and light novels. Novels, poetry, and plays followed as the second most popular category at 15.2%. The share for comics and light novels was over four times higher.

In the twenties age group, both practical needs and personal tastes were clearly reflected. Exam preparation and certification books accounted for 26.4% and comics/light novels 24.0%. Combined, these two fields represented 50.4% of all purchases—meaning that half of the purchases were either books for exams and qualifications or books for enjoying favorite content.

Among readers in their forties, children's books took the highest proportion at 21%. Yes24 interprets this as a result reflecting purchases for children. Unlike those in their teens and twenties, whose purchases were mainly driven by personal preferences and preparing for exams and certifications, the focus in one's forties shifts, with children becoming a primary reason for book purchases.

For readers aged fifty and older, the focus of purchases shifted back to matters closely related to their own lives. Economics, management, humanities, and religion rose to dominate the key categories. There was a growing emphasis on books that aid with practical decisions like pension, post-retirement asset management, and investment, as well as works that allow readers to reflect on life and prepare for the time ahead.

Kim Minhee, a senior manager in the marketing division at Yes24, said, "For the 50s and 60s generation, it is a period marked by increased practical decision-making around career transitions before and after retirement, asset and retirement planning, health, and children's independence." She added, "Based on their accumulated experience, their reading methods are characterized by actively using books as a tool for information seeking and reflecting on personal life, in order to assess and resolve concrete life issues."

These shifts in purchase patterns align with Yes24’s previously released reading tendency data. An analysis of 312,032 participants who took the “RBTI” reading tendency test between April 23 and July 31 found that from their teens through forties, the most common type was “Complete-Read, Empathy, Depth, Fun (CEDF),” characterized by resonance with book content and seeking enjoyment and emotion. From the fifties and up, the leading type became “Complete-Read, Analyze, Depth, Information (CADI),” which focuses on analyzing content and acquiring knowledge and information.

Based on Yes24's book purchase data by age group and analysis of reading preferences, the characteristics of book purchases by generation were reconstructed. For those under their teens, comics and light novels were predominant; in their twenties, exam preparation and certifications as well as comics and light novels were significant; in their forties, the purchase proportion of children's books stood out; and for those aged fifty and above, there was a strong tendency toward information and practical reading such as economics, management, humanities, and religion.

Among younger generations, there was a particularly strong concentration on specific tastes. The share of “depth type” readers was 71.6% among teenagers and 66.6% among those in their twenties, but dropped to the 50% range for those in their thirties and above. Out of the top 100 books purchased in the past year by the 28,007 “depth-type” readers in their teens and twenties, 61 were comics and light novels. There were also cases where multiple volumes from the same series simultaneously ranked among the top sellers.

Senior manager Kim explained, “Data clearly show that young readers strongly focus their purchases on fields of particular interest,” adding, “This stands in contrast to the more diversified book purchases observed from the thirties onward.”

This difference was even more pronounced in the purchase lists of CADI-type readers aged fifty and older. Among the top 100 most-purchased books over the past year, 30 were on economics and management. Titles covering pensions, post-retirement asset management, and investment—such as “Complete a Lifetime Salary with 1 Billion Won in Dollar Assets,” “The Equation of Money,” and “I Was Just Thinking About Myself Five Years From Now”—ranked at the top.

Based on this data, Yes24 plans to use these insights for book recommendations and curation tailored to each reader. Senior manager Kim said, "For those in their teens and twenties, we are considering ways to connect interests already formed outside of reading—through other content or hobbies—back to reading, and to segment the pathways through which users discover books according to their reading purposes and styles."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.