Why did demotic script become widely used for business and literary texts in ancient Egypt?

Demotic script, which the Egyptians referred to as sekh shat or "writing for documents," became widely used for business and literary texts because it was a highly efficient, standardized cursive form of writing.1

Originally developed around 660 BCE during the 26th dynasty, demotic was expressly created for government office use. Its structure was well-suited for the formalized language found in administrative documents, allowing for faster and more convenient writing compared to earlier systems. By the 5th century BCE, it had been adopted throughout Egypt for business and literary purposes.231

While hieratic script had previously served as the primary cursive method for administrative and literary tasks, demotic began to replace it in offices during the 7th century BCE. Unlike hieratic, which remained largely restricted to religious texts in its later stages, demotic’s utility expanded over time to include letters, literary works, and eventually religious inscriptions. Additionally, demotic was versatile enough to be found engraved in stone or carved in wood, whereas hieratic was almost exclusively written in ink on papyrus.312