Image copyright Thinkstock

A third of people in Scotland have given up on reading daily newspapers in the space of 15 years, figures suggest.

Data from the Scottish Social Attitudes survey indicates that regular newspaper readership fell from 76% of Scots in 1999 to 41% in 2014.

Meanwhile, 33% of people surveyed said they checked online news or newspaper websites at least once a day last year.

The age profile of regular newspaper readers has also been highlighted as a concern for traditional media outlets.

The attitudes study is run by ScotCen Social Research and measures changes in opinion and behaviour.

Do you regularly read one or more daily morning newspapers? 1999 2004 2009 2012 2014 YES 76% 62% 54% 49% 41% NO 24% 38% 46% 51% 59%

It found that regular daily newspaper readership stood at 76% at the turn of the century, slipped down to hover above 50% six years ago, before dropping further to 41% by last year.

Sales figures for newspapers covering the end of 2014 show a decline across almost all major titles.

Recent statistics from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) indicate readership between July and December 2014 dropped by between 4% and 11% on the same time the year before.

A number of titles report extra online and subscription figures in Scotland - with The Herald, Press and Journal, Scottish Sun and The Times all operating full or part subscription models.

Average Scottish print sales Sales (July to December 2014) Change from July to December 2013 The Courier 47,000 -7% The Herald 37,000 -5% Press and Journal 60,300 -5% The Scotsman 26,300 -11% Scottish Sun 235,000 -9% Daily Record 197,900 -10% Daily Express 53,700 -13% Daily Mail 91,500 -4% Daily Telegraph 17,000 -9% The Guardian 9,700 -10% The Times 18,800 +1%

In the attitudes survey figures on online news use, a third of people reported checking in on news websites several times a day or every day, with 11% several times a week and another 7% at least once a week.

In terms of age, the 25-44 year old age group accessed online news the most, with 65 and over the least likely to use the internet for news.

'Steep decline'

Rachel Ormston, head of attitudes at ScotCen Social Research, said: "It's clear that the way we consume news is constantly evolving, with 1 in 3 of us now reading news online on a daily basis.

"While this figure still lags behind the 4 in 10 who say they read a daily newspaper regularly, newspapers' struggles for sales are reflected in the very steep decline in regular readers we have recorded over the last 15 years.

"And the ageing profile of regular newspaper readers means that this decline may well continue: newspapers will need to be increasingly fleet footed to compete with online rivals, particularly where the latter are free of charge."