The line graphs illustrate the percentage of households that owned three electrical appliances—washing machines, refrigerators, and vacuum cleaners—as well as the average number of hours spent on housework per week in a country from 1920 to 2019.
Overall, there was a steady increase in the ownership of electrical appliances over the century, with refrigerators and vacuum cleaners eventually becoming ubiquitous. In contrast, the time spent on household chores declined significantly, coinciding with the rising adoption of these appliances.
In 1920, no households owned a refrigerator, while vacuum cleaners and washing machines were present in around 30% and 40% of homes, respectively. Over the following decades, refrigerator ownership grew exponentially, surpassing 90% by 1980 and reaching full saturation (100%) by 2000. Similarly, vacuum cleaner adoption rose consistently, hitting 100% by 1980. The washing machine followed a more gradual trajectory, fluctuating between 60% and 70% from 1940 to 2000, before eventually reaching 75% in 2019.
Conversely, the number of hours spent on housework per week fell sharply from 50 hours in 1920 to 20 hours by 1960, marking a 60% reduction in just four decades. Following this, housework time continued to decline, albeit at a slower rate, reaching approximately 11 hours by 2019. This downward trend strongly correlates with the widespread adoption of household electrical appliances.