Children’s reading enjoyment has fallen to its lowest level in almost two decades, with just one in three young people saying that they enjoy reading in their free time, according to a new survey.

Only 34.6% of eight- to 18-year-olds surveyed by the National Literacy Trust (NLT) said that they enjoy reading in their spare time. This is the lowest level recorded by the charity since it began surveying children about their reading habits 19 years ago, representing an 8.8 percentage point drop since last year.

It is also part of a broader downward trend since 2016, when almost two in three children said that they enjoyed reading.

Reading frequency is also at a historic low, with 20.5% of eight- to 18-year-olds reporting reading daily in their free time, compared with 28% last year.

The gender gap in reading enjoyment has widened, with 28.2% of boys aged eight to 18 now saying they enjoy reading in their free time, compared with 40.5% of girls.

“We know that children who read for pleasure, and children who are read to, gain all kinds of benefits, from increased vocabulary to vastly improved mental wellbeing”, said children’s laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce. “But today’s survey shows that too often as a nation we are withholding those benefits from our children.” He described the benefits as an “invisible privilege”.

The NLT found that twice as many children who said they enjoy reading in their spare time have above average reading skills (34.2%) compared with those who don’t enjoy it (15.7%).

Children who read in their free time at least once a month said that it helps them to relax (56.6%) and feel happy (41%), learn new things (50.9%), understand the views of others (32.8%) and learn about other cultures (32.4%).

Secondary school-age children showed the steepest declines in reading enjoyment. Three in 10 secondary pupils reported enjoying reading in their spare time, compared with more than half of primary-age pupils.

“With children and young people’s enjoyment of reading at an all-time low, and high numbers leaving primary and secondary school without the reading skills they need to thrive, the futures of a generation are being put at risk”, said NLT chief executive Jonathan Douglas.

“For a report focused largely on reading enjoyment, much of this is not an enjoyable read,” concluded the report. “The declining levels of reading enjoyment and reading frequency are, frankly, shocking and dispiriting.”

The charity called on the government to form a reading taskforce and action plan to address the declining rates of reading enjoyment, and prioritise reading for pleasure in its curriculum and assessment review.

“The bad news is that we are at risk of losing a generation,” said Cottrell-Boyce. “The good news is that the solution is in our hands.”

The NLT surveyed 76,131 children and young people aged five to 18 between 3 January and 14 March this year as part of its Annual Literacy Survey.