NEWSPAPER READERSHIP in Ireland has declined by 3.1 per cent year on year, according to latest figures published by the Joint National Readership Survey.

The JNRS’s mid-year 2010-11 report shows that 2.94 million adults here read a newspaper in the period. This represented 82 per cent of the adult population.

This compared with 3.02 million in the previous year – which was 85.9 per cent of the adult population.

The Irish Timeshad an average daily readership of 324,000 in the period. This was down 35,000, or 9.75 per cent, on the previous year.

This was better than the 10.27 per cent average decline in morning newspaper readership.

It was also a better performance than the paper's two main national broadsheet rivals – the Irish Independentand the Irish Examiner.

The Irish Independentrecorded a readership of 500,000, a decline of 60,000 a day or 10.71 per cent.

The Irish Examinersaw its average readership fall by 17.16 per cent, or 35,000 a day, to 169,000.

The only publication in the morning market to record an increase was the Irish Daily Mirror.Its average readership rose by 3,000 a day, or 1.5 per cent, to 207,000.

The Irish Timeshad an ABC1 profile – a key demographic for advertisers – of 81.5 per cent. This compared with 51.8 per cent at the Irish Independentand 47.3 per cent at the Irish Examiner.

Overall Sunday readership declined by 2.65 per cent year on year. The biggest decline was recorded by the Sunday Business Post, which is owned by Cork-based Thomas Crosbie Holdings. Its readership fell by 29,000 a week, or 15 per cent, to 164,000.

The Sunday Times,which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International, saw its readership decline by 22,000, or 5.2 per cent, to 400,000.

The Sunday Independentwas 21,000, or 2.1 per cent, lower at 971,000 while the Sunday World posted a fall of 36,00,0 or 4.3 per cent, at 807,000.

The Irish Sunday Mirrorrecorded an increase of 13,000, or 8.9 per cent, to 159,000.

The National Newspapers of Ireland attributed the decline in readership to the recession.

“It’s mainly down to economic issues, in particular the fact that there are now fewer people in work and therefore fewer newspapers being shared around the workplace,” said NNI’s Frank Cullen.

Mr Cullen found “particular encouragement” in the fact that 75 per cent of all students and 77 per cent of 15-24-year-olds regularly read a newspaper.

The adult population was estimated by JNRS at 3.59 million. The latest survey showed that 45.5 per cent of adults read a morning title and 66.6 per cent read a Sunday paper.