The line chart illustrates how the ownership of household electrical appliances and the average amount of time spent on domestic chores changed in a particular country from 1920 to 2019.
Overall, the proportion of homes equipped with electrical appliances showed a clear upward trend over the given period, although refrigerator ownership experienced a brief decline mid-century. In contrast, the time devoted to housework per household decreased steadily throughout the entire timeframe.
Looking first at appliance ownership, washing machines were extremely uncommon in 1920, with only about 3% of households owning one. This figure increased sharply to approximately 55% by 1940 and continued to rise, eventually reaching full penetration at 100% in 1980, after which it remained unchanged. Vacuum cleaner ownership followed a similar pattern: starting at around 30% in 1920, it grew consistently to roughly 90% by 1980 and peaked at 100% in 2000, maintaining this level until the end of the period. Refrigerator ownership, however, followed a slightly different trend. Although it began at a relatively high level of about 40% in 1920 and rose to nearly 70% in 1960, it fell modestly to around 64% in 1980. After this decline, the figure recovered gradually, reaching approximately 75% by 2019.
Turning to housework, households spent about 50 hours per week on domestic tasks in 1920. This amount fell significantly over the next four decades, dropping to around 20 hours by 1960. The downward trend continued at a slower pace thereafter, decreasing to roughly 15 hours in 2000 and reaching its lowest point of just over 10 hours per week by the end of the period.