You brought up many interesting points!

For reference I'm a millenial but nearly bordering on the Gen Z cusp, being born in the 90s.

I have tutored many young students over the years and I've noticed this troubling trend. They're often impatient, can't focus and often miss key details from simple sentences.
I think it's easy to attribute it to the increased consumption of "fast" media and use of smartphones. Some of these kids were pretty much born when smartphones were already the norm.

But just like you said, it's hard to offer something that isn't anecdotal.

I like to think that books will always be around and there will always be an audience for them.
However it's tricky to get interested in books if you haven't been reading for pleasure in your youth.
There's also something to say about books being very pricy. There's workarounds of course.. the library, used book stores, e-books..

What I can say it's I'm one of the few people in my circle of friends that is interested in reading but it's usually much simpler to strike up a conversation about the latest manga or TV series.

I also have to echo your sentiment about reading being a numbers game but I don't actually know too many people that set out with X books they have to read each year.
I think it's mostly just a warped perception that we have because of book influencers on social media.
Different genres have different merits and you can enjoy all of them, there's no shame in it.. however, there's definetely something to be said about the slow and mindful reading ( and re-reading ) that specific genres and authors require and that's probably the kind of experience that will make you more eloquent or expose you to more interesting ideas and just slow down ( in a good way.. ) your thinking in general.

Also, as a more frivolous ( but is it, really?? ) comment on what you said, I can understand the frustration with your own country always being at the bottom of most statistics. Within Europe, it's very much the same with Italy these days 😏