The bar chart compares the percentages of household expenditure on five categories (food, housing, transportation, health care and clothing) in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan in 2009.
Overall, housing accounted for the largest proportion of household spending in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, whereas food was the biggest expense in Japan. Transportation also represented a substantial share of expenditure, particularly in Canada, while health care and clothing consistently received the smallest proportions in all four countries.
Housing was the largest spending category in three countries, accounting for approximately 26% in the United States, 24% in the United Kingdom and 21% in Canada. In Japan, however, housing made up a slightly smaller share, at around 22%, as food ranked first at approximately 23%. Food expenditure showed the opposite pattern. Americans spent the least on food, at only about 13%, compared with 15% in Canada and 21% in the United Kingdom.
Transportation accounted for around 20% of total expenditure in Canada, the highest figure among the four countries. The corresponding percentages were slightly lower in the United States (18%) and the United Kingdom (15%), while Japan allocated just 10%, the lowest proportion. Health care and clothing made up relatively small shares of household budgets in every country. Spending on health care was highest in the United States, at about 8%, whereas the other three countries spent only around 2-4%. Likewise, expenditure on clothing remained below 7% in all four nations, with Canada recording the highest percentage and the United States together with Japan the lowest.