Household Spending Breakdown

IELTS Writing Practice — AI-Powered Feedback

Writing Prompt

The two pie charts below show how an average household in one country divided its monthly spending across six categories in 1995 and in 2020. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Each chart is divided into the categories of housing, food, transport, healthcare, entertainment and other. In 1995, food was the largest category at 30 per cent, followed by housing at 25, transport at 15, healthcare at 10, entertainment at 10 and other at 10. By 2020, housing had become the largest share at 35 per cent, food had fallen to 20, transport remained at 15, healthcare rose to 15, entertainment stayed at 10 and other fell to 5.

Show Band 8–9 model answer

The pie charts compare how an average household allocated its monthly budget across six categories in 1995 and 2020.

Overall, the most striking change is the shift in dominance from food to housing, alongside a gradual increase in healthcare spending and a reduction in spending on food and other items. Transport and entertainment, by contrast, remained stable over the period.

In 1995, food represented the largest proportion of household expenditure, at 30%, while housing accounted for a quarter of the budget. Transport was the third-largest category at 15%, with healthcare, entertainment and other expenses each receiving an equal 10% share.

By 2020, housing had overtaken food as the principal expense, rising substantially to 35%. Food’s share declined markedly to 20%, a drop of one-third from its original level. Healthcare also became more significant, increasing from 10% to 15%, equalling transport, which remained unchanged at 15% over the 25-year period. Entertainment expenditure was stable at 10%, whereas the proportion devoted to other items was halved, falling from 10% to just 5%, making it the smallest category in 2020.

Why this response works

This response would achieve a high band because it accurately describes all key data and identifies clear overall trends, satisfying Task Achievement. The overview highlights the main shifts in spending priorities, and all figures are reported without distortion. Coherence and Cohesion are strong, with a logical progression from overview to detailed comparison, and paragraphing is effective. Lexical Resource is demonstrated through varied, precise vocabulary (e.g. “dominance,” “substantially,” “halved”) without repetition. Grammatical Range and Accuracy are high, with complex but well-controlled sentence structures and no noticeable errors.