Errors were found in chart 1 and table 1 of this article. Chart 1 and table 1 were reissued on February 21, 2017, to correct the data. 

·-lo>'- on Prices and Spending 

Consumer Expenditure Survey 

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics March 2012 Volume 2, Number 16 

In Japan, consumers spent more than 17 

percent of every yen on groceries, twice the 

8.6 percent of every dollar that Americans 

spent. In the United States, households spent 

over 7 cents of every dollar on health care, 

compared with just 1.4 pence of every pound 

in the United Kingdom. This article compares 

how consumers in the United States, Canada, 

the United Kingdom, and Japan allocated different shares of total spending to categories 

such as food, housing, and transportation in 

2009. Such variation can be expected, given 

differences in cultural tastes, the relative availability of goods and services, and institutional 

factors, such as government regulation and 

tax laws, among those countries. As shown in 

chart 1, housing shares of total expenditures 

were higher in the United Kingdom than in 

Canada, the United States, and Japan in 2009, 

whereas Americans had the highest health 

care shares. Canada had the highest clothing 

and transportation shares, and Japan had the 

highest food share, among the countries 

compared. 

Comparisons of expenditure shares by category 

Food. Table 1 shows that Japan's consumers 

spent 21.8 percent of their total expenditures 

Chart 1. Shares of expenditures for selected categories, United States, Canada, 

United Kingdom, and Japan, 2009 

Share (percent) 

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Food Housing

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Transportation

• United States 

• Canada

• United Kingdom 

• Japan

Healthcare Clothing

� 

BLS 

1� 
2

CURRENT SPENDING TOPICS

on food in 2009. Of total spending on food in 

Japan, 21.1 percent was for food outside the 

home. The United Kingdom had the secondhighest share: 19.9 percent of total expenditures on food. Canada, with 15.3 percent, and 

the United States, with 14.6 percent had the 

lowest food expenditure shares among the 

countries studied. Of the 14.6 percent of total 

expenditures allocated to food expenditures 

in the United States, 41.1 percent was spent 

outside the home. Although the United 

States had a higher percentage of expenditures for food away from home compared 

with Japan, the United States had a lower 

total food expenditure share. 

Housing. The United Kingdom had the highest 

housing expenditure share, 27.1 percent of 

total expenditures in 2009. The United States

and Japan followed, with 26.3 percent and 

22.2 percent, respectively. Canada had the 

lowest housing share, 21.4 percent. Housing 

was the largest expenditure component in all 

countries. For purposes of comparability, the 

housing totals for the United States, the 

United Kingdom, and Canada were 

Table 1. Shares of total expenditures for selected categories, United States, Canada, 

United Kingdom, and Japan, 2009United Kingdom, and Japan, 2009

Category United States Canada United Kingdom Japan 

Food 14.6 15.3 19.9 21.8

 Food at home 8.6 11.6 13.6 17.2

 Food away from home 6.0 3.7 6.3 4.6

Housing 26.3 21.4 27.1 22.2

Transportation 17.5 20.6 15.2 9.8

 Automobiles 6.1 8.3 5.1 2.2

 Public transportation 1.1 2.0 2.5 2.3

 All other transportation 10.3 10.2 7.6 5.3

Health care 7.2 4.2 1.4 4.3

Clothing 4.0 6.0 5.5 4.2

Education 2.4 2.6 1.8 4.0

Culture/Entertainment/

Recreation 6.5 8.6 15.1 10.6

Alcoholic beverages and 

tobacco products 1.9 3.2 4.8 1.6

Other categories1 19.7 18.1 9.1 21.6

1

 Including miscellaneous expenditure shares and categories that are unique to a particular 

country. Because these categories were different for each country, they were not used in direct 

comparisons in this article.
3

 CURRENT SPENDING TOPICS

adjusted to exclude mortgage interest and 

mortgage principal payments because, although housing totals for Japan include rent, 

utilities, and communication, they do not include mortgage payments, on which no data 

are collected. Property taxes were excluded 

from housing totals.

Transportation. Canada had the largest transportation share of all four countries, 20.6 

percent. Canadians pay higher gas prices 

than Americans,1 and the share of automobile 

expenditures was higher in Canada than in 

the United States (8.3 percent, compared with 

6.1 percent). The United States and the United 

Kingdom had the next-highest transportation shares, 17.5 and 15.2 percent, respectively. Japan had the lowest, 9.8 percent. This 

smaller share is due to low expenditures for 

automobile purchases and other nonpublic 

transportation. Despite having the lowest 

total transportation share, Japan’s share of 

spending on public transportation was twice 

that of the United States. Of Japan’s 9.8-percent transportation share, 23.5 percent was 

for public transportation and 22.4 percent 

was for the purchase of automobiles. In 

comparison, of the 17.5-percent transportation share in the United States, 6.3 percent 

was for public transportation and 34.9 

percent was for the purchase of automobiles. 

Health care. The United States had the highest 

out-of-pocket health care share, 7.2 percent in 

2009, followed by Japan, at 4.3 percent, 

Canada, with 4.2 percent, and the United 

Kingdom, at 1.4 percent. The health care share 

for the United States may be higher, because 

in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan 

medical costs are paid indirectly through 

nationalized health care options,2 and medical 

costs paid indirectly are not included in outof-pocket health care expenditures.

Clothing. Canada had the highest share of 

clothing expenditures in 2009 among the 

countries examined, with 6 percent of its total 

expenditures spent on clothing. The United 

Kingdom had the second-highest clothing 

share, 5.5 percent, Japan had a clothing share 

of 4.2 percent, and the United States had the 

smallest share, 4 percent.

Survey data

U.S. data used in this article are from the 

Consumer Expenditure Survey, which collects 

information from the nation’s households and 

families on their buying habits (expenditures), 

income, and household characteristics. The 

data are collected by the U.S. Census Bureau 

for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The sampling unit is the consumer unit.3

 The survey 

consists of two components—a quarterly 

Interview Survey and a weekly Diary Survey—

each with its own questionnaire and sample. 

In the Interview Survey, each consumer unit is 

interviewed every 3 months, for a total of five 

interviews. In the Diary Survey, respondents 

are asked to keep track of all their purchases 

made each day for two consecutive 1-week 
4

CURRENT SPENDING TRENDS

periods. Participants receive each weekly diary during a separate visit by a Census Bureau 

interviewer. The Interview Survey yields approximately 28,000 usable interviews annually, the Diary Survey, about 14,000. 

Expenditure data for Canada are derived from 

the Survey of Household Spending (SHS),4 the 

main purpose of which is to obtain detailed 

information about household spending during the previous calendar year. The survey is 

conducted from January to March in the year 

following the reference year and covers about 

98 percent of the Canadian population in the 

10 provinces and 92 percent of the population 

of the three territories. The sample for the SHS 

is a stratified multistage sample selected from 

the Labour Force Survey sample frame, with 

a sample size of approximately 17,000 households. The sample unit is the household. 

The United Kingdom’s expenditure data are 

derived from the Living Costs and Food Survey,5

 which collects primarily information on 

household expenditures of goods and services while also collecting information on incomes of the household members. The survey 

is a continuous one, with interviews spread 

evenly over the year to account for seasonality. The sampling unit is the household, and 

approximately 11,500 addresses were selected 

in 2009, resulting in roughly 5,200 households 

responding. The data collected are published 

as average weekly expenditures. For purposes 

of this article, the weekly expenditure averages are multiplied by 52 to obtain annual 

averages. 

Japan’s expenditure data are derived from the 

National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure (NSFIE),6

 a sample survey conducted 

for the Japan Statistics Bureau every 5 years, 

with the latest survey having been conducted 

in 2009. The survey collects information on 

household income and expenditures, savings 

and liabilities, consumer durables, and residences and residential property. The sample 

unit is the household, and approximately 

55,000 households were surveyed in 2009. 

The interviewing period covered September 

2009 to November 2009 for households with 

two or more people and October 2009 to November 2009 for households with one person. 

Methodology

Expenditure shares are the percentages of 

total expenditures allotted to each expenditure category. These shares usually do not 

fluctuate much in the short term and are more 

useful for identifying spending trends than 

examining percent changes in expenditures 

from one year to the next. In order to make 

the shares data of the three foreign countries 

examined compatible with U.S. shares data for 

this article, several adjustments were made to 

expenditure categories. 

To derive the housing share data for Canada, 

expenditures on shelter, household operation, 

and household furnishings and equipment 
5

 CURRENT SPENDING TRENDS

are combined into one housing category. As 

in the United States, health care expenditures 

in Canada are out-of-pocket expenditures for 

medical supplies and services, prescription 

drugs, and premiums for health insurance. 

Transportation expenditures are also similar 

in both countries, covering both public and 

private transportation, gasoline, and expenditures on vehicles. One difference between 

the two countries is that Canada’s Survey 

of Household Spending includes personal 

income taxes and mortgage principal in its expenditure computations, whereas the U.S. CE 

survey does not. For purposes of this article, 

mortgage interest and mortgage principal 

expenditures are excluded from the Canadian 

housing totals and personal income taxes are 

excluded from total expenditures.

In the United Kingdom, the hotels portion of 

the restaurant and hotels category is combined with the housing, fuel, and power category. Additional adjustments in that country 

include moving the restaurant portion of expenditures on restaurants and hotels to food 

and nonalcoholic beverages and shifting alcoholic beverages bought at restaurants into 

the alcoholic beverages and tobacco products 

category. Mortgage interest and mortgage 

principal expenditures are excluded from the 

housing calculations. 

In Japan, transportation expenditures are 

combined with communication expenditures, 

and to provide a transportation expenditure 

category comparable with that in the United 

States, communication expenditures are 

moved into the housing category. For Japan, 

charges for fuel, light, and water; furniture and 

utensils; and communications are added to 

housing to form a combined housing category. Expenditures for alcoholic beverages 

and tobacco products are separate categories 

in both the United States and Japan, but for 

comparison purposes with Canada and the 

United Kingdom, which combine the two 

categories, these expenditures are combined 

in this article.

Summary

This article compares the adjusted U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey expenditure shares 

with expenditure shares from Canada, the 

United Kingdom, and Japan. The people of 

these four industrialized nations spend their 

budgets differently. The United States had the 

highest shares of health care expenditures in 

2009, compared with the other three 

countries. Japan’s share of food expenditures 

was the highest among the four countries, 

but not larger than Japan’s share of housing. 

Canada had the highest clothing and 

transportation expenditure shares and shares 

of out-of-pocket health care expenditures 

were the lowest in the United Kingdom.

Data tables, CE publications, a glossary, survey

forms, and other information are available at

www.bls.gov/cex, email: cexinfo@bls.gov. If you

have any questions, contact Brett Creech with

the Consumer Expenditure Survey program, at

Creech.Brett@bls.gov or (202) 691-5120.
6

 CURRENT SPENDING TRENDS

Notes

1

 For a comparison of Canadian vs. U.S. gas prices, see “Historical Price Charts” (Brooklyn Park, MN: GasBuddy.com, 2012), 

http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx?city1=USA Average&city2=Canada Average&city3=&crude=nutmeg=

36&units=us.

2

 For a comparison of the U.S., Canadian, U.K., and Japanese health care systems, see “Market Watch: How the world compares on 

health care,” The Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2012, http://www.marketwatch.com/health-care/reform/snapshot. Canada and 

the United Kingdom have a single-payer health care system in which health care costs are paid through taxes. Japan offers a national 

health insurance program as well as private insurance. In both cases, citizens pay premiums and costs are subsidized by the government. 

3

 A consumer unit consists of any of the following: (1) All members of a particular household who are related by blood, marriage, 

adoption, or some other legal arrangement; (2) a person living alone or sharing a household with others or living as a roomer in a 

private home or lodging house or in permanent living quarters in a hotel or motel, but who is financially independent; (3) two or 

more persons living together who use their incomes to make joint expenditure decisions. Financial independence is determined by 

spending behavior with regard to the three major expense categories: housing, food, and other living expenses. To be considered 

financially independent, the respondent must provide at least two of the three major expenditure categories, either entirely or in part. 

The terms consumer unit, family, and household are often used interchangeably for convenience. However, the proper technical term 

for purposes of the Consumer Expenditure Survey is consumer unit.

4

 For a detailed description of Canada’s Survey of Household Spending, see “Survey of Household Spending” (Ottawa, ON: 

Statistics Canada, December 17, 2010), http://www.statcan.gc.ca/imdb-bmdi/3508-eng.htm.

5

 For information regarding the United Kingdom’s Living Costs and Food Survey, see Family Spending, 2010 Edition (London: 

Office of National Statistics, November 30, 2010) http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/family-spending/family-spending/2010-

edition/index.html. 

6

 For information on Japan’s National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure, see “National Survey of Family Income and 

Expenditure” (Tokyo: Statistics Bureau, 2009), http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/zensho/index.htm.