Education > Library books: Countries Compared

Author: Ian Graham, Staff Editor

Only 81 countries are on this list. The reason the United States and many other countries do not appear on this list could be that data was not collected, or not available. <p>According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics table <a href= http://www.uis.unesco.org/TEMPLATE/html/HTMLTables/culture/LibrariesTertiary.htm >Selection of Indicators on Libraries of Institutions of Tertiary Education</a>, there are 3,658 college or university central libraries in the United States with combined collections of 878,906,177 volumes of books. <p>The Russian Federation, with 328,345,356 volumes of books, and Germany, with 145,781,090 volumes, are the only other countries in the table with more than 100,000,000 volumes of books in their college and university libraries. <p>Judging from this, it would be reasonable to assume that the combined number of books in all of the United States would be among the highest in the world.

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#	COUNTRY	AMOUNT	DATE
1	GeorgiaGeorgia	76.4 million	1999
2	RussiaRussia	73.63 million	1999
3	GermanyGermany	34.69 million	1998
4	United KingdomUnited Kingdom	27.9 million	1999
5	RomaniaRomania	19.04 million	1999
6	ItalyItaly	13.19 million	1998
7	FranceFrance	12.51 million	1997
8	HungaryHungary	7.55 million	1999
9	JapanJapan	7.31 million	1999
10	CanadaCanada	7.27 million	2000
11	BelarusBelarus	6.88 million	1995
12	ArmeniaArmenia	6.85 million	1999
13	SlovakiaSlovakia	6.04 million	1999
14	Serbia and MontenegroSerbia+	5.98 million	1998
15	SpainSpain	5.82 million	1998
16	LithuaniaLithuania	5.76 million	1999
17	Czech RepublicCzech Republic	5.6 million	1999
18	SingaporeSingapore	5.42 million	1999
19	BelgiumBelgium	5 million	1997
20	DenmarkDenmark	4.62 million	1999
21	UkraineUkraine	4.12 million	1999
22	KazakhstanKazakhstan	3.78 million	1999
23	AzerbaijanAzerbaijan	3.69 million	1999
24	VenezuelaVenezuela	3.69 million	1995
25	MongoliaMongolia	3.27 million	1999
26	SwitzerlandSwitzerland	3.11 million	1999
=27	CubaCuba	3 million	1999
=27	IsraelIsrael	3 million	1995
29	Republic of MacedoniaMacedonia Rep.	2.98 million	1998
30	KyrgyzstanKyrgyzstan	2.96 million	1995
31	PolandPoland	2.73 million	1999
32	PortugalPortugal	2.68 million	1999
33	MoldovaMoldova	2.67 million	1999
34	NetherlandsNetherlands	2.66 million	1998
35	South KoreaSouth Korea	2.58 million	1995
36	BulgariaBulgaria	2.52 million	1999
37	CroatiaCroatia	2.51 million	1999
38	AustraliaAustralia	2.44 million	1995
39	GreeceGreece	2.41 million	1997
40	EstoniaEstonia	2.28 million	1999
41	FinlandFinland	2.15 million	1999
42	NorwayNorway	1.84 million	1999
43	TurkeyTurkey	1.55 million	1999
44	SloveniaSlovenia	1.36 million	1999
45	PhilippinesPhilippines	1.24 million	2000
46	MalaysiaMalaysia	1.11 million	1995
47	EgyptEgypt	1 million	1998
48	United Arab EmiratesUAE	1,000,000	1999
49	AlbaniaAlbania	965,000	1995
50	IcelandIceland	840,152	1999
51	Costa RicaCosta Rica	824,623	1999
52	LuxembourgLuxembourg	800,000	1999
53	IrelandIreland	757,048	1997
54	JordanJordan	706,000	1995
55	Dominican RepublicDominican Rep.	702,000	1995
56	MexicoMexico	538,596	1999
57	ColombiaColombia	429,238	1999
58	IranIran	411,000	1995
59	MonacoMonaco	317,000	1999
60	KuwaitKuwait	270,000	1999
61	QatarQatar	228,000	1995
62	BarbadosBarbados	174,000	1995
63	LiechtensteinLiechtenstein	167,508	1997
64	EcuadorEcuador	150,000	1995
65	BoliviaBolivia	125,036	1999
66	OmanOman	114,886	1999
67	San MarinoSan Marino	107,000	1995
68	ChileChile	100,752	1999
69	ZimbabweZimbabwe	100,590	1999
70	BermudaBermuda	85,000	1999
71	CyprusCyprus	65,516	1999
72	MaliMali	60,315	2000
73	Sierra LeoneSierra Leone	20,000	1999
74	TogoTogo	19,000	1995
75	BangladeshBangladesh	14,000	1995
76	Sao Tome and PrincipeSoa Tome+	8,636	1999
77	AndorraAndorra	8,000	1999
78	BeninBenin	7,000	1995
79	BurmaBurma	4,800	1996
80	The GambiaThe Gambia	2,000	2000
81	RwandaRwanda	1,197	1999

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