The first line graph illustrates the percentage of households that owned electrical appliances – namely washing machines, refrigerators, and vacuum cleaners from 1920 to 2019 in one country. The second graph shows the number of hours spent per week on housework per household during the same period.
Overall, ownership of all three appliances increased over time, with refrigerators and vacuum cleaners experiencing the most dramatic growth, eventually reaching near-universal adoption. Conversely, the average weekly hours spent on housework declined steadily, which shows that increased access to electrical appliances is strongly associated with a marked reduction in household labour over the past century.
In 1920, refrigerators had insignificant ownership in this country, while around 30% of households owned vacuum cleaners and 40% had washing machines. Over the following decades, refrigerator ownership rose sharply, surpassing 90% by 1960 and reaching 100% by 1980. Vacuum cleaner ownership followed a similar trajectory, hitting 100% by 2000. Washing machine ownership grew gradually, climbing to about 70% by 1960 and approximately 75% by 2019