Sunday 25 May 2008

Sub-Saharan book production

On the UN data website, there is information on how many books are published in different countries. The data on Sub-Saharan countries is patchy, with only a dozen or so countries present. It can be found at http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=UNESCO&f=srID%3a25420

I am not sure whether to believe the data, as some of the figures are so small. Ghana for example in 1998 is recorded as having published just seven books, while Togo apparently published just five. Perhaps their authors choose to publish outside the country for subsequent import back in. Something looks strange when you compare with Malawi's figure of 120 books in 1996. There are also healthy publication industries in DR Congo and Ethiopia, and some of their books crop up in UK bookshops.

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