A report released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Tuesday shows the total an average household spent on printed matter during the second half of last year was W10,397 (US$10) a month, 2.5 percent more than last year. But it was a paltry 0.5 percent of the W2.05 million a family spent during the month.

Printed matter includes newspapers and magazines and story- and art books for children but excludes school textbooks and reference. Considering that a monthly newspaper subscription costs W12,000, the amount spent on books for adults was vanishingly small.

By contrast, haircuts and accessories averaged W59,611 a month, a 3.4 percent increase from last year. Broken down, W47,003 was for grooming and W12,608 for accessories. The total amounted to 5.7 times what printed matter was worth to households.

However, they spent on average W63,587 a month on cultural and entertainment activities and W33,859 on related equipment, totaling W97,446 for entertainment -- 9.4 times more than for printed matter.

The largest chunk went on dining out, where households spent on average of W245,807 a month, 23.6 times more than on books.

(englishnews@chosun.com )