The bar chart below shows shares of expenditures for five major categories in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan in the year of 2009

The bar chart describes spending in five lifestyle categories for residents of four different nations in 2009. Looking from an

overall

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perspective, it is readily apparent that housing,

food

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, and transportation are the biggest expenses in nearly all countries, with those in the United States spending the most on their homes and those in

Japan

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the most on

food

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. Healthcare and clothing are smaller expenses and transportation is a greater expenditure than

food

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in only

Canada

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and the US. Expenditure on

food

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ranges from a low of 14% in the United States to a high of 22% for

Japan

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, with

Canada

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(15%) and the

UK

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(21%) in between. Housing costs represented at least a slightly higher percentage in all countries: 26% in the US, 24% in the

UK

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, 21% in

Japan

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, and 20% in

Canada

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. The numbers were more variable for transportation as

Canada

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stood at 20%, just above the USA at 19%

while

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the

UK

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and

Japan

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were lower at 15% and 10%, respectively. In terms of healthcare, by far the most is allocated for medical expenses in the USA (8%)

while

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all other countries are below 5%. For clothing,

Canada

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spends the most of their income (7%), followed by the

UK

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(6%),

Japan

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(4%), and

finally

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the United States (3%).