Consumer spending on different items in five countries

Question

The table ilustrates the proportion of consumer, measured in percentage, who spent various items in five different countries in 2002 period.

It can be seen from the table that consumers in all these countries spent the highest percentage in these categories on food, drinks and tobacco. In each country, the lowest consumption were leisure and education.

Generally, the proportion of spending food, drinks and tobacco were highest in Turkey and Ireland, at around 32% and 29% respectively. Besides, the consumption of these categories in Sweden was only about half the figure of Turkey, at 16%. In terms of clothing and footwear, there were highest consumption in Italy, at 9%. In the other countries, the expenditure by people was roughly similar proportion of their budget, between 5,5% and 7%, on footwear and clothes.

Additionally, we can see immediately that in terms of leisure and education, more than 4% of these categories were consumed, making it the most common item in Turkey. There were a similar figure in Italy and Sweden, at around 3,2%. At last, the propotion were even lower in Ireland and Spain, at about 2,2% and 2% respectively.