The pie chart illustrates how the proportion of household budget spent on four different purposes – food, clothing, healthcare, and household changed in China in 1995 and 2011. Overall, while the percentage of spendings on medicine and household followed an upward trend, the opposite was observed for food and clothing. It is also worth noting that the highest share of the total expense was allocated to food, as opposed to medicine, which required the lowest proportion of the total budget.
Looking first at the data for 1995, food held the largest share (68%), followed distantly behind by clothing (19%). The percentages of allocation to household and healthcare stood at the lowest ends of the spectrum with 9% and 4%, respectively.
Turning to the figures for 2011, food remained the most expensive basic need, despite a slight decrease to 59%. Clothing stayed relatively the same, falling negligibly to 18%. Both the proportions of household and medicine increased – the former to 12%, whereas the latter to 11%.