The bar chart below shows shares of expenditure for five major/ main/ primary categories in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan in the year 2009.

The bar chart below presents the percentage of money allocated for 5 primary categories in 5 different countries in 2009.

Overall

, spending for food, housing and transport accounted for/ made up/ took up the majority,

whereas

the figures for health care and clothing were the minority. Standing at 26%, Americans spent the most on housing which was 4% more than that of Canada. Meanwhile, the highest budget allocated for transportation belonged to Canadians.

However

, the money for food in both countries showed little difference.

Whereas

the medical expense in the US was the highest, which doubled in Canada, Canadians’s spending on clothing was 3% more than in the US.

Similarly

, housing, food, and transportation took up the majority of the spending of the British and Japanese, at 50% and 55% respectively.

Although

there was a similar proportion of expenditure for foodstuff and housing in Japan at 22%, travel expenses were just half. Strikingly, the cost of health services in the UK was the lowest, just one-third compared to clothing,

whereas

. those figures in Japan were the same