The table compares the change in the weekly expenditures allocated on household necessities and other needs of families from the years 1968 and 2018. Overall, it is clear that the spending patterns of families have altered a lot in the last 50 years, with families spending far more on leisure and housing instead of necessities like food and clothing.
During the year 1968, food accounted for the largest share of household expenditure of up to 35%, which later dropped drastically to 17%. Similarly, spending on clothing and footwear fell from 10% to 5%, while the percentage of fuel and power decreased the least, from 6% to 4%.
On the contrary, to these positive changes over the years, there were a few negative ones too. We see that there was a huge increase in leisure spending from 8% to a whopping 23%. Over the years, families also spent more on housing, as there is a rise of 19% from 10% in the year 1968 to 29% in 2018.
Transport and personal goods also had moderate increases. Transport spending doubled from 7% to 14%, while expenditure on personal goods decreased from 7% to 4%. Despite the other changes, household goods remained constant 7% in both years.
In summary, the data shows a clear shift from spending heavily on necessities more in the year 1968, instead of spending more on sectors like housing, transport and leisure, which was the case in the year 2018.