Bar chart — household expenditure by country
The question
The bar chart below shows the average household expenditure by category in three countries in 2020. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Sample answer
The bar chart compares average household spending across five categories — housing, food, transport, healthcare and leisure — in three countries in 2020.
Overall, housing was the single largest expense in all three countries, while leisure accounted for the smallest share everywhere. Country A consistently spent more in absolute terms than Country B or Country C across most categories.
Looking at the data in detail, households in Country A devoted just over 30% of their budget to housing, compared with roughly 25% in Country B and 22% in Country C. Food spending followed a similar pattern, accounting for approximately 18% of expenditure in Country A and around 15% in the other two countries.
Transport and healthcare costs were broadly comparable between the three countries, each in the range of 10–14% of total spending. Country C, however, devoted a noticeably higher proportion — about 14% — to healthcare than Country A or B (both close to 10%). Leisure expenditure was the lowest category overall, ranging from 6% in Country C to 9% in Country A.