Band 9: The three pie charts below show the changes in annual spending by local authorities in Someland in 1980, 1990 and 2000. Summarize the information and compare where relevant, by selecting and reporting the key features. You should write at least 150 words.

The charts show how much local authorities spent on a range of services in Someland in three separate years: 1980, 1990 and 2000.

In all three years, the greatest expenditure was on education. But while K-12 education saw a fall from 25% in 1980 to only 18% of spending in 2000, higher education remained the largest proportion, reaching 45% of total spending in 1990 and ending at 40% in 2000.

Expenditure on health and human resources had increased to 20% by 1990 before decreasing to only 10% by the end of the period. In contrast, the share of transportation saw an opposite trend. This cost decreased to only 6% of total expenditure in 1990 but rose dramatically in 2000 when it represented 22% of the total budget. Similarly, the cost of environmental services saw a rising trend, growing from only 4% to 9% by 2000.

Overall, higher education constituted the largest cost to local authorities, and while spending increased for transportation and environmental services, there were corresponding drops in expenditure on health and human resources and K-12 education.