The charts compare changes in household ownership of three electrical appliances – washing machines, refrigerators and vacuum cleaners – and the average weekly time spent on housework in a country between 1920 and 2019.
Overall, there was a sharp increase in the ownership of household appliances, particularly refrigerators and vacuum cleaners, accompanied by a substantial reduction in the amount of time spent on housework.
In 1920, washing machines were the most common appliance, present in 40% of homes, followed by vacuum cleaners at 30%, while refrigerators were used by only about 5% of households. Over the next four decades, ownership of all three appliances rose markedly. By 1960, refrigerators had become dominant at around 90%, while both washing machines and vacuum cleaners stood at approximately 70%. From 1980 onwards, refrigerators and vacuum cleaners reached full or near-full penetration, remaining at close to 100% by 2019. In contrast, washing machine ownership fluctuated slightly, dipping in 1980 before recovering to roughly three-quarters of households at the end of the period.
Meanwhile, the average time spent on housework declined steadily from 50 hours per week in 1920 to just 10 hours in 2019, reflecting the impact of increased appliance usage.