The pie charts illustrate how much money was spent on 7 different categories, namely books, computers, furniture, restaurants, petrol, cars and food between 1971 and 2001
Overall, the percentage of money invested in food was highest in 1971, while that of cars made up the largest proportion in the pie chart in 2001. In contrast, books and computers were the smallest spending categories in both years
In 1971, the percentage of money spent on food was the highest, accounting for 44%, which was double the figure for cars. Spending on furniture and petrol was similar, at around 10%, compared to about 7% for books and restaurants. Only 2% of the total expenditure was on computers.
In the next 30 years, car expenses increased significantly and became the highest figure, at 43%, while those of computers and restaurants rose slightly to 12% and 14%, respectively. By contrast, the proportion of spending on food fell dramatically by 30%, followed by books and petrol decreasing steadily by 5% and 2%. The figure for furniture remained unchanged over the survey period, at around 9%.