Here's a statistic to confound the doomsayers: Newspaper circulations grew last year... again.

This year's 1.1 per cent growth brings that since 2007 to 4.2 percent and 512 million copies, according to WAN-Ifra's latest report on the state of the global newspaper industry, World Press Trends 2012.

Data is now presented in a more user-friendly database form.

Figures show 2.5 billion people read a newspaper in print regularly. The growing newspaper business in Asia has more than offset circulation losses elsewhere in the world.

But while digital platforms are helping newspapers increase their audiences, they are as yet not proving to be a sufficient source of revenue. 

The report includes an overview of circulation, advertising, digital and other worldwide trends, regional perspectives from leading publishers and data from 75 countries in comparative table format. Tables cover newspaper circulation, reach, advertising revenues, numbers of internet and broadband users, as well as demographic information, from 2007 to 2011.

Full details about the report can be found at www.wan-ifra.org/wpt_report_2012.

WAN-Ifra says it  collects most of its data from a large number of contributors world-wide, an enormous undertaking on a global scale and one that depends on its vast network of newspaper associations, online publishers, newspapers and researchers.

It is  enhanced by statistics and information provided by other sources including Zenith Optimedia, Comscore, IPSOS, the World Bank, the International Telecommunications Union and the International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circulation.