Residents of Singapore will be paid to read books

Singapore has decided to financially encourage residents to read regularly. The goal is not so much to earn money as to build the habit in an era of short videos and endless scrolling.

For every 15 minutes of reading on a government platform, participants receive 20 virtual coins. 1,000 coins can be exchanged for 1 Singapore dollar — about 65 rubles. Organizers expect that reading regularly for about 50 days will help establish the habit.

There is also a charitable side: Read for Good adds up the minutes participants spend reading and turns them into donations for people from vulnerable groups.

At the same time, Singaporean schoolchildren are already showing strong results in international reading studies. Now the authorities want to preserve not only a high level of literacy, but also the habit of deep reading.