Daily newspaper readership in the Republic went up by 71,000 last year, with a total of 1.64 million adults reading daily publications.
Morning newspapers gained 45,000 readers, rising to 1,391,000, an increase of 3.2 per cent on 1998. The readership of evening newspapers went up by 49,000, an increase of over 11 per cent.
Sunday newspapers also performed strongly, with their total readership climbing to 2,017,000, up 4 per cent.
The Joint National Readership Research (JNRR) Survey for 1999 puts the Irish Times readership at an average of 285,000 daily between January and December 1999, compared with 295,000 in 1998.
The readership of the Irish Independent rose by 16,000 to 612,000. The Star had the biggest increase of any daily morning newspaper, climbing by 7.6 per cent to 423,000. The Examiner's readership rose by 5 per cent to almost 233,000.
The Evening Herald increased its readership to 367,000 adults, up from 326,000 in 1998. The Evening Echo gained an extra 8,000 readers to reach a total figure of 69,000 adults.
Ireland on Sunday's readership jumped by more than 40 per cent since the last yearly survey. An extra 57,000 readers brought its total readership to 197,000 adults.
The Sunday World's readership passed the one million mark, increasing by 105,000 readers to 1,051,000. The Sunday Business Post also saw a significant increase in its readership, which rose by 10,000 to 130,000 adults.
The only Sunday newspaper to experience a decline in readership was the Sunday Tribune, which fell 2.8 per cent to 244,000 readers.
The survey estimates that the State's population has risen by 100,000.
The National Newspapers of Ireland welcomed the figures. "With the ongoing fragmentation of the newspaper world, particularly with the onset of digital TV and the proliferation of Internet sites, it should come as good news for Irish newspaper-owners that 83 per cent of Irish males and 80 per cent of females read Irish newspapers," the NNI said.
The survey was carried out by Lansdowne Market Research for the NNI, the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland, the Association of Advertisers in Ireland and magazine and cinema interests.
The survey was based on 5,203 interviews conducted between January and December of last year. The findings were weighted to adults aged over 15 and living in the State.
