The bar charts describe the proportion of spending on food and other products by three European countries between 1998 and 2008.
Overall, all three countries witnessed upward trends. In the first year, while Germany recorded the highest spending on food and other types of goods, the opposite was true for England. However, these goods became popular in France by 2008, making France the largest consumer of both categories.
By 1998, Germany led the percentage of spending on food and ‘other goods’ with 25% and about 17%, respectively. Meanwhile, the second highest was France with 15% on foods and approximately 9% on the other types of goods, followed by England with 10% on food and roughly 6% on the remaining types.
Turning to the year 2008, all countries saw a sharp increase. French citizens’ expenditure on food and other goods climbed to a similar figure of 40%, making France the largest consumer. Despite holding the highest rank in 1998, Germany slightly increased by 5 percentage points in the food sector and nearly 8 percentage points in the latter one. The proportion of income allocated to food in England rose slightly to 15%, whereas this country saw a marked growth of 35% in 2008.