Global newspaper circulation is rising, buoyed by demand in Asia and South America, belying predictions of the demise of print journalism, officials said Monday at the start of an international newspaper conference.

Circulation of paid newspapers rose 2.6% worldwide in 2007, with the biggest jump in India and China. Those countries are now the largest market for newspapers with 107 million copies sold daily, according to a report by the World Association of Newspapers.

The increased circulation in India and other Asian cultures was due to increasing literacy, more free time and greater income, said Larry Kilman, a spokesman for the association.

However, readership continued to slip in the United States and Europe, where traditional dailies face stiff competition from free newspapers and digital media.

Officials said the findings were cause for a degree of optimism about the industry. “They say newspapers and print are dead. Well, I just don’t see it,” the association’s president, Timothy Balding, told publishers, editors and newspapers executives at the three-day conference.

The strong sales in Asia, which is home to 74 of the world’s 100 best-selling dailies, contrasted starkly with declining newspaper readership in the West.

Last year, circulation fell 3% in the United States and 1.9% in Europe, the report showed; in the past five years, circulation was down 8% in the United States.

Advertising followed a similar trend. Newspaper advertising revenue rose in all regions except the United States, where it fell 3% in 2007, the report said.

Meanwhile, Internet advertising revenue worldwide was up 32%, showing the rapid growth of online media.

Associated Press research presented at the conference showed young adults have profoundly different news consumption patterns from previous generations.

“People don’t walk out to the driveway to collect their newspaper. They open their e-mail,” Jim Kennedy, AP’s director of strategic planning, said in presenting the study.

The research project also showed young adults experience news fatigue from being inundated by facts and updates and have trouble accessing in-depth stories.

A worldwide survey of 704 newspaper editors by Zogby International and Reuters also showed 44% believed most people would be reading their news online in 10 years. That was up from 41% in a similar study last year.