A New Zealand study reveals that Kiwi women read a lot more than men do.

The Research NZ survey asked 505 some information on their reading habits. The results were released Monday, showing 23 per cent of Kiwi men had not taken the time to read last year.

In contrast, only eight per cent of women had said they had not read a book in the past 12 months.

The figures came out even as the survey revealed nine per cent of New Zealanders have read at least 50 books in 2011.

Most of the voracious readers in the survey on the number of books read in 2011 were aged over 65, the New Zealand Herald reports.

The Herald spoke to New Zealand author Paul Thomas, who said the survey results were not surprising.

"There's always been a lot of talk around the fact that women read a lot more than men, women tended to be the book buyers rather than men and it was having an impact on the nature of publishing," he said.

"Even with sportsmen books, it's mostly women buying the books to give to men as gifts," he added.

Instead of a book, the survey found men would much rather read a newspaper, magazine or articles on the internet. However, for women, a book is the top choice reading material.

The survey was commissioned by New Zealand Book Month.

NZ Book Month organiser Megan Dunn zeroed in on other findings in the survey, such as the Kiwis' preference for hard copy books instead of ebooks.

The survey showed 77 per cent of the respondents who had read at least one book in the past 12 months said they would still prefer the traditional paper-based book than a digital copy.

Ms Dunn told the Herald it was interesting electronic books hadn't dented book sales.