The bar chart below shows the proportions of expenditure for selected categories in the US, Canada, UK and Japan in 2009.
The bar chart indicates how different nations spent on five purposes in 2009.
Overall, almost all countries invested the most in housing and the least in healthcare and clothing.
The percentage of the US's expenditure on housing was the highest, at above 25% and those of the remaining were lower, at more than 20%. In terms of Food, Japan became the leading consumer in 2009 when it used approximately 23% of the budget for food, 3% higher than the UK. The figures for the other two countries were much lower, never exceeding 15%. While Canada expended 20% of their earnings on Transportation, the expenditure on traveling in Japan was the lowest (10%) compared to others, only half of that of Canada.
A reverse pattern was seen in Healthcare and Clothing which accounted for minor parts of the total spending in all countries. Except for 7% in the US, the expenditure on healthcare in the other countries remained below 5%. Similarly, the spending on Clothing in all five countries were quite close, being no more than 7%.
