The given table presents the domestic budget in a European nation between 1920 and 1980.
Overall, the majority of categories exhibited a net upward trend, particularly in the household expenditure for transportation. Additionally, despite food absorbing the highest proportion of income, its position was overtaken by that of housing by the end of the period. Conversely, healthcare stabilized over the years and consistently remained the least significant expense.
Regarding categories experiencing growth, housing accounted for a significant share at 26% in 1920, a figure that was dramatically higher than the spending of families on “other” and transportation, which amounted to a mere 9% and 3% respectively. Both housing and transportation exhibited an increase over the subsequent years, with the former reaching 33% and taking the lead by the end of the period, while the latter ended at 25%. Also, “other” showed a significant growth and reached 14% by 1980.
While the aforementioned factors saw increased spending, the opposite was true for food and clothing. Specifically, families spent the highest proportion of their budget on food at 41% in 1920, before spending almost half compared to the initial year, reaching 19% by 1980. This downward trajectory was mirrored in clothing, with its rate starting at 17% before falling to a mere 5% by 1980. In contrast, despite undergoing marginal fluctuations, healthcare eventually finished at the initial level at 4%.