The bar chart reveals data about what proportion of their budget households expended on various items in one nation in two different years.
Overall, the weekly expenditure on food declined significantly, mainly at the expense of leisure and housing costs. The outlay on leisure activities more than doubled, while the outgoings on household goods remained consistent.
To begin, in 1968 just above a third of the total budget was allocated to purchasing food and this shrank drastically to approximately 17% in 2018. Meanwhile, the figure for housing, which accounted for 10% in 1968, grew almost twofold in 2018, but still ranked second in the list of items. The costs associated with leisure, which comprised roughly 10% in the initial year, climbed to around 23%, taking the largest share of the family budget forty years later.
As regards transports expenses, they grew from about 7% to almost 15% in 1968 and 2018 respectively. The trend for fuel and power as well as personal goods witnessed a similar pattern, falling across the period and resulting in around 4% in 2018. As regards, household goods, their expenditure remained unchanged with around 7% in both years. As for clothing and footware, the values halved over the time span.