The two pie charts compare the proportions of time that working adults spent on six different activities in a particular country in 1958 and 2008.
Overall, working and sleeping accounted for the largest shares of adults’ time in both years. However, over the 50-year period, people spent more time working, relaxing at home, travelling to work, and engaging in other interests, while the proportions of time devoted to sleeping and going out with friends or family declined.
In 1958, working represented the largest proportion of adults’ time at 33%, closely followed by sleeping (32%). Going out with friends and family accounted for 19%, making it the third most common activity. By contrast, only 8% of time was spent relaxing at home, while 6% was devoted to other interests or playing sports. Travelling to work occupied the smallest share, at just 2%.
By 2008, working had become even more dominant, increasing significantly to 42%. In contrast, the percentage of time spent sleeping fell to 25%. Relaxing at home also became more popular, rising from 8% to 13%. Similarly, commuting increased fourfold, from 2% to 8%, and time spent on other interests grew slightly to 8%. Meanwhile, going out with friends and family declined considerably from 19% to 6%, representing the most noticeable decrease among all activities.