Band 7+: The chart below gives information about the household percentage of spending on essential goods in China for the years 1995 and 2011. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

The pie charts provided illustrate the percentage of spending on four dissimilar categories in China in the two periods of 1995 and 2001.

Overall, food and clothing make up the largest share of household spending, while household goods and medicines are the least significant categories. Even as spending on food and clothing fell, spending on medicine and household goods increased.

First of all, food was by far the most important source of sustenance for the people of China. In 1995 it accounted for more than half (68%) of total spending, in 2011 it fell to 59%, but remains the most important group. The second item that received more attention was clothing, which accounted for 19% of household income in 1995 and fell 1% in 2011

In contrast, medicines and household goods were the least important on the Chinese item list. In 1995 they spent only 4% of their budget on medicines, which was by far the lowest amount, and 9% on household goods. By 2011, both sectors had become more important, each recording a rate of just over a tenth.