The bar chart illustrates how families in one country allocated their weekly income across eight categories in 1968 and 2018.
Overall, it is evident that spending on food declined substantially over time, while expenditure on leisure, housing and transport increased. Additionally, some categories experienced only minor changes or remained relatively stable.
In 1968, food accounted for the largest proportion of weekly income, standing at approximately 35%. However, this figure decreased significantly to around 17% in 2018. By contrast, spending on housing rose from about 10% to nearly 18%, indicating a noticeable upward trend. Similarly, expenditure on transport increased steadily, climbing from roughly 8% to around 14%.
Turning to the remaining categories, spending on leisure saw a dramatic rise, more than doubling from about 9% in 1968 to approximately 22% in 2018, making it the largest category in the latter year. In contrast, expenditure on clothing and footwear declined markedly from around 10% to about 5%. A similar downward trend can be observed in fuel and power as well as personal goods, both of which decreased slightly. Meanwhile, spending on household goods remained relatively stable, with only a marginal increase over the period.