Band 7+: The table illustrates the proportion of monthly household income five European countries spend on food and drink, housing, clothing and entertainment. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

The table shows the amount of household income that five countries in Europe spend per month on four items. Overall, it is evident that all five countries spend the majority of their income on food and drink and housing, but much less on clothing and entertainment.

Housing is the largest expenditure item for France, Germany and the UK, with all of them spending around one third of their income on this, at 30%, 33% and 37%, respectively. In contrast, they spend around a quarter on food and drink. However, this pattern is reversed for Turkey and Spain, who spend around a fifth of their income on housing, but approximately one third on food and drink.

All five countries spend much less on the remaining two items. For clothing, France and Spain spend the least, at less than 10%, while the other three countries spend around the same amount, ranging between 11% and 15%. At 19%, Germany spends the most on entertainment, whereas UK and Turkey spend approximately half this amount, with France and Spain’s spending between those other three nations.