Table — Average monthly household spending in five countries

The table gives the average monthly amount, in US dollars, that households in five countries spent on food, housing, transport and leisure.

Overall, housing was the largest single expense in four of the five countries, and there were enormous disparities between them: American households spent several times as much as Indian ones in every category. India was also the one country where food outweighed housing.

Spending was highest in the United States, where housing alone cost 1,420 dollars a month and transport a further 780. Germany followed a similar pattern on a smaller scale, with 1,180 dollars for housing and 590 for transport. Japan diverged from both: its housing costs were the lowest of the three wealthy countries at 1,050 dollars, yet it spent 690 dollars on food, the highest figure in the table.

Brazilian and Indian households spent far less across the board. Brazil's housing bill of 560 dollars was under half the German figure, and its leisure spending of 170 dollars was less than a third of America's. India was lowest on every measure, spending just 240 dollars on housing, less than the 260 it spent on food, and only 80 dollars on leisure.