Print runs of foreign literature in Russia have fallen by a third since the start of the war

Print runs of foreign literature in Russia have fallen by a third since the start of the war

In 2025, print runs of translated literature in Russia decreased by 31% compared with 2022. This is stated in the Ministry of Digital Development's report on the state of the book market, as noted by Verstka.

In 2022, print runs of foreign literature translated into Russian amounted to 84.1 million copies; in 2024 they declined to 65.1 million; and in 2025 they fell to 58 million copies.

At the same time, in 2025 the share of translations in the total number of published editions was 15.6%, whereas in 2022 foreign books accounted for 21.4%. Also, the number of translated works (unique titles of books and brochures) has decreased by 23.8% since 2022 — from 19.7 thousand in 2022 to 15 thousand in 2025.

In addition, the report gives the shares of Russian and foreign authors in publishers' portfolios in 2025. Printed books by Russian authors accounted for 76%, foreign authors for 24%. In the e-book segment, the figures were 65.5% and 34.5% respectively.

“Publishing works by domestic authors, increasing interest in Russian heroes and traditions, is a trend that creates opportunities for the growth and development of the domestic book market,” the report says.

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