Maybe it’s the overcast skies that lend themselves to seeking comfort between the pages, but bookworms love Vancouver.
Residents of the West Coast city buy more books on a per capita basis than anywhere else in Canada, according to sales data released Monday (June 15) from Amazon.ca.
Vancouver moved up one spot this year to overtake Calgary as the nation’s most well read city, where it topped sales categories among cooking, travel, health and self-help books.
While Vancouverites may have a reputation for embracing a laid-back lifestyle, the city also devoured more business books than any other city.
Amazon’s results showing local interest in finance and economics aren’t an outlier.
A 2012 study from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) determined B.C. was the most entrepreneurial province in the country.
The BDC found in 2011, 0.27% of B.C.’s population became self-employed with employees compared with the national average of 0.23%. And during the 2008 financial crisis, 0.37% of B.C.’s population became self-employed with employees compared with the national average of 0.24%.
In November 2014, Futurpreneur named Vancouver as the nation’s most entrepreneurial city after it hosted 89 registered events during Global Entrepreneurship Week.
While Ontario cities occupied nine out of the top 20 spots on Amazon’s list, other B.C. cities had strong showings.
Burnaby ranked No. 11 in Canada, Richmond was No. 13 and Surrey was No. 16.
The list was based on Amazon.ca sales data collected from both print and digital formats between April 2014 and April 2015, on a per capita basis in cities with populations of more than 100,000 people.
The full list of Canada’s most well read cities:
1. Vancouver, B.C.
2. Calgary, Alta.
3. Saskatoon, Sask.
4. Edmonton, Alta.
5. Regina, Sask.
6. London, Ont.
7. Toronto, Ont.
8. Kitchener, Ont.
9. Ottawa, Ont.
10. Winnipeg, Man.
11. Burnaby, B.C.
12. Mississauga, Ont.
13. Richmond, B.C.
14. Windsor, Ont.
15. Gatineau, Que.
16. Surrey, B.C.
17. Markham, Ont.
18. Brampton, Ont.
19. Halifax, N.S.
20. Hamilton, Ont.
