Band 6+: The charts below show the proportion of people's total spending on different commodities and services in a particular European country in 1998 and 2008.

The bar charts illustrate the proportion of people who spent money on a variety of services in 1998 and 2008 in a European country. Overall, while the proportion of people’s money spent on clothing and electronic goods increased, the reverse is true for expenditure on holidays, newspapers and going to cinemas. People’s expenditure on eating out did not changed.

Focusing on the increases first, the percentage of spending on electronic goods started at 16%. Then the figure increased significantly to 20%, remaining its position on top. Proportion of money spent on clothing saw a dramatic rise from 12% to 18%. The figure for eating out remained stable at 6% during the period.

In contrast, the figure for holiday, newspaper and magazines and going to cinema exhibited a downward trend. The percentage of money for going on a holiday spent by people dropped noticeably from 8% in 1998 to 5% in 2008. The proportion money which spent on magazines and cinemas witnessed a similar decline from 3% to a mere 1% in 2008.