The two pie charts compare the share of individuals’ expenditure spending on six categories in a particular European nation in 1958 and in 2008.
Overall, while the levels of spending on housing, luxury goods, and travel experienced an increase, a reverse trend was true for clothing, food, and entertainment.
Turning to the categories that show an upward trend, in 1958, individuals spent a smallest proportion on luxury goods, at just 7%, and then in 2008, this figure witnessed a significant rise, by 10%. A similar gap could be exhibited in housing, increasing from 22% in 1958 to 32% in 2008. The percentage of people’s spending on travel was quite small in the first examined years, at around 8%, after that its spending doubled the initial rate, with approximately 17%.
As for the remaining categories, food was by far the most popular spending category among all sectors, at 32% in 1958, before decreasing significantly to 12% by 2008. The proportion of spending on entertainment was 13% in 1958, then it halved to 6% in 2008. By contrast, the figure of clothing expenditure recorded a minor decline, falling from18% in 1958 to 16% in 2008.
