The two line charts illustrate the percentage of households with electrical appliances and the time dedicated weekly to housework within a household, in a country during a 100-year period, from 1920 to 2019.
Overall, the number of hours needed for chores and housework kept decreasing sharply over the years as the electrical appliances were gaining more popularity. Machines such as the refrigerator were at first absent from nearly all of the households but are currently, along with the vacuum cleaner, owned by every household in the country.
The refrigerator started at its lowest in 1920 with being present in just under 5% of households. It soared swiftly reaching 90% in just 40 years. From 1960 it increased at a steadier pace peaking at 100% of the households in 1980 and remaining in every home in 2019. The vacuum cleaner and the washing machine were already present in many households with respectively 40% and 30%. They both kept gaining popularity, reaching 70% in 1960. The vacuum cleaner then joined the refrigerator at 100% of presence in households in 2000 and until the end. On the other hand, the washing machine hovered at 70%.
The number of hours of housework per week follow the opposite trend as the electrical appliances, falling sharply from 50 hours in 1920 to just 20 hours in 1960. It then decreased steadily, reaching just above 10 hours per week in 2019.