A survey by Cultural Affairs Agency shows that a record high two out of three people in Japan don't read books.

The agency queried 6,000 people aged 16 or over, from January to March, about their reading habits and received responses from 3,559 of them.

When asked how many books including electronic ones they read in a month, 62.6 percent of the respondents said none.

That marked a rise by more than 15 percentage points from the last survey five years ago. While the method of the study changed from in person to mailing, the figures indicate more people are not reading books.

Among respondents who said they read books, a record high 69.1 replied that they read less. About 44 percent explained that this was because they spent time on smartphones and other devices. Roughly 39 percent said they were busy working or studying.

When the respondents were asked whether they wanted to increase the amount of time they spent reading, 40.8 percent chose they do not want to or probably won't want to. The figure topped 40 percent for the first time.

Agency officials said they believe fewer people are reading books because they are using smartphones more. They said another factor may be that there are less bookstores, so people have fewer opportunities to come in contact with books. They said they hope to try to increase opportunities for people to spend more time with words and printed material.