Journaling statistics: how many people keep a journal in 2026 (only numbers that check out)

Search for journaling statistics and you get the same few lines on every page: "38% of adults journal weekly", "50 million Americans keep a journal". I tried to trace each of them back to a survey and could not find one. So I went the other way: I opened the surveys themselves, with their method, date and sample size, and wrote down only what they actually say.

I found three, all by YouGov, all with published tables.

The short version:

1. Fewer than one adult in ten journals regularly: 7% in Great Britain (2023), 11% "very often" in the US (2022).
2. Many more write at least sometimes: 18% of Britons and 28% of Americans.
3. Younger people try it more often, older people stick with it more. Women journal more than men.
4. Most of the viral "journaling stats" have no primary source.

How many people journal: three surveys

The surveys asked different questions, so you can't add them up. Read together, they still give a clear picture.

United States, September 2022, 5,735 adults. Question: "How often do you write your personal thoughts in some form of diary or journal?"

Answer	Share
Very often	11%
Sometimes	17%
Rarely	21%
Never	47%
Not sure	4%

Great Britain, November 2023, 2,931 adults. A simpler question: "Do you keep a journal or diary?" Yes, regularly: 7%. Yes, but not regularly: 11%. No: 81%.

Great Britain, May 2025, 2,095 adults. This one asked how often people write various things by hand, and a personal diary or journal was one of the rows. Every day: 7%. A few times a week: 5%. A few times a month: 5%. A few times a year: 6%. Less often: 9%. Never: 67%.

7% write a personal diary or journal by hand every day; 67% never do.

So what percentage of people journal? Regular journalers exist everywhere and they are few, about one in ten. People who write at least now and then are several times more common. For most, a journal is something they come back to, not a daily ritual.

Do people still journal? Who does

YouGov publishes age and gender breakdowns in the same tables, and they answer the "do people still journal" question better than any headline.

Younger people try it more. In the US survey, 34% of 18–29-year-olds said "never", against 61% of people over 65. In the 2025 British survey, 50% of 18–24-year-olds never keep a handwritten diary, against 72% of 50–64-year-olds.

Older people keep at it. Here the picture flips. In the 2023 British survey, 11% of people over 65 journal regularly, against 8% of 18–24-year-olds, even though the young were about twice as likely to say "not regularly" (17% vs 9%). In 2025, 11% of over-65s write by hand every day, against 9% of 18–24s.

Women journal more. In Britain in 2023, 23% of women keep a journal (9% regularly) and 12% of men (4% regularly). In the US, 44% of women and 50% of men said "never".

In one line: the young start more often, older people carry on more often. The surveys don't say why. It looks a lot like what I wrote about in why we quit journaling: starting is easy, keeping going is the hard part.

What people want to happen to their journal

The same 2022 US survey asked two more questions, and to me they are more interesting than the percentages.

First: have you ever read someone else's diary or journal without their permission? 15% said yes. Another 4% preferred not to say.

15% of adults admitted reading someone else's diary or journal without permission.

Second: when you die, what should happen to your journals? Destroyed: 14%. Shared only with select people: 22%. Published: 6%. 46% have no journal, 12% are not sure.

For the people who keep one, a journal is a private thing first. Only about one in sixteen would publish it. And roughly one in seven has read someone else's, so they know it happens. Worth remembering when you choose where to write: paper, a notes app or a journal app. I put what to check in a private journal app checklist.

Journaling benefits statistics: what the research says

I could not find a survey on why people journal: YouGov asks "how often", not "why". There is, however, experimental data on what writing about personal things does.

In 2006, Joanne Frattaroli pooled 146 randomized studies in which people were asked to write about meaningful experiences. The average effect was positive and statistically significant, and small: r = .075. That is the honest answer behind most "journaling benefits statistics": the benefit is real, modest, and depends a lot on who writes, about what and for how long. What was measured and where the effect is larger is in does journaling help with anxiety.

The numbers that don't exist

This is the most useful part, because it is where most articles go wrong.

• No reliable global figure. "X% of people worldwide keep a journal" is not backed by any survey. There is no worldwide poll on journaling.
• The popular stats have no source. "38% of U.S. adults journal at least weekly", "50 million Americans keep a journal", "8% journal, 22% quit" circulate on statistics aggregators and company blogs, with no link to an actual survey. I don't use them.
• No data on paper vs apps. No open survey measures how many people journal in an app versus on paper. The 2025 British survey counted handwriting only; the others did not specify.
• No trend. Whether journaling is growing can't be read from these three surveys: different questions, different countries.
• Nothing for most countries. I also looked for Russian polls (FOM, VCIOM) and found none on personal journals.

What this means for you

If you journal in fits and starts, you are with the majority of people who journal at all. Regular writers are a minority, and that is no reason to feel behind. What matters is whether you come back, not whether you write every day. If you want to start, here is how to start a journal without a schedule and without guilt.