The Guardian is the most trusted newspaper in Britain

The Guardian is the most trusted newspaper in Britain as well as being the most read quality news outlet, and the most popular quality news outlet among younger readers, according to industry figures released on Monday.

The Guardian is now reaching more than 23 million British adults every month, with the organisation’s articles being read by 12 million Britons in a typical week and 4.1 million on the average day, aided by the decision to keep the website free for all readers.

In addition, more than 97% of online readers think that reading the Guardian is time well spent, which is the highest score among all national publishers in the country. The figure rises to 99% among Guardian print readers.

Readers of the Guardian website were also substantially more likely to say that they felt a close connection to the outlet, that it offered them something they could not get elsewhere, and that they trusted its reporting. The Observer topped the equivalent rankings for Sunday newspapers.

The Guardian topped almost every measure of trust and readership in the quality newsbrands category – a group including the Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Independent, and the i.

Among this group the Daily Telegraph has slipped to second place in terms of total audience size. The Independent is in third place, while the Times trails substantially far behind in fourth place, in part thanks to the decision to put its entire website behind a paywall. The i is a distant fifth.

The figures show a particular success among younger readers, with 8 million Britons under 35 reading the Guardian in a typical month – compared with just 1.8 million who read an article in the Times.