The given table illustrates the proportion of seven types of electronic items used in households in New Zealand over a four-year period, starting in 1998.
Overall, it can be seen that all of the electronic goods showed an upward trend, except for video recorders, which experienced a decline. Noticeably, the computer, cellphone and dishwasher underwent a significant increase, whereas the washing machine and color tv showed only a slight rise. Furthermore, they remained the most used goods among all.
In 1998, the washing machine was the most commonly used by New Zealanders, at 98% share of households, followed by the color tv, owned by 95% of households. The video recorder was also popular among households in New Zealand, with 75% in homes, while the computer had a more modest ownership of 50%. The two electronic goods including the cell phone and dishwasher had low ownerships, with 20% and 18% households owning them, respectively. The least prevalent item was the digital camera, owned by only 2% of residents.
Moving to the 2002 column, in general, all the electronic goods showed a remarkable increase, especially the digital camera and cellphone. Specifically, the former surged sharply to 39% of household ownerships and the latter quadrupled to 80%. The dishwasher and computer also witnessed a notable growth, with respective ownerships of 55% and 78%. There was a similar change, but to a lesser extent, as the color tv barely rose to 97%, while the washing machine remained stable at 98% of households. Unfortunately, the video recorder was the sole item that underwent a considerable drop of 15%, falling to 60%.