Bar chart: Household spending by category

The bar chart compares the percentage of household income that families in Japan, Egypt and Canada spend on housing, food, transport, leisure and education.

Overall, housing was the largest item in Canada and Japan, whereas Egyptian households devoted by far the greatest share of their income to food. Education took the smallest share in most cases.

Egypt's spending on food reached 40%, the highest single figure in the chart, and well above Japan's 23% and Canada's 12%. In contrast, Egyptians spent comparatively little on housing, at 18%, while Canadians paid the most, with 32% against Japan's 25%.

Differences in the other categories were smaller. Canada devoted 16% of income to transport, compared with 10% in Japan and 8% in Egypt. Leisure accounted for 12% of Japanese spending and 10% of Canadian spending, but only 4% in Egypt. Education was the least significant category for Canadians, at 4%, and Japan spent the most on it at 8%, ahead of Egypt at 6%. Japanese households spread their money most evenly, with no category below 8%, and housing took more than any other category in both Japan and Canada.