The study published by National Book Trust in association with National Council of Applied Economic Research said Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram occupy the top slot with 67 per cent leisure readers followed by Assam with 41 per cent.
Comparing these states with Maharashtra, it said the figure in the western state was only 34 per cent.
The results were based on the National Youth Readership Survey -2009, which will be released by HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju tomorrow. In all, 38,575 people between 13-35 years were covered.
It said that 73 per cent of the youth in Bihar, 45-47 per cent in NE region, 34 per cent in Maharashtra and 41 per cent in the rest of the country are found to be fiction readers.
In all, there were 42 per cent fiction readers and 24 per cent non-fiction readers in the country as a whole.
The results revealed that while northeastern states have 43 per cent leisure readers, the central states in comparison have the largest block (85 per cent) of non-readers.
"It is also noticed that the north-eastern region has the highest proportion of literate youth hailing from rural areas, while in the remaining parts of India, the concentration of literate youth is more towards urban," the survey said. (MORE)
