Public Spending by Category, 1980 and 2020

The question

How to approach this pie chart question

Pie charts show proportions of a whole. With two pies, the task is to describe how the shares changed or differ.

1. Say what the whole is and what the percentages measure.
2. Overview: the biggest share and the main shift between charts.
3. Compare the largest slices first, then the smallest.
4. Use fractions and percentages (just over a third, roughly 20%).

How to plan this answer

Structure

1. Introduction: paraphrase the two pie charts, which show how public spending was divided between seven categories in Country B in 1980 and 2020.
2. Overview: Pensions remains the largest category, Health rises sharply, Defence falls the most, and Debt interest and Transport are the smallest.
3. Body paragraph 1: the categories that grew, Health (10% to 22%), Pensions (24% to 27%) and Other (20% to 22%).
4. Body paragraph 2: the categories that shrank, Defence (16% to 7%), Debt interest (9% to 4%), Education and Transport, and the change in rank of Defence.

Key features to spot

• Health rises by 12 points, from 10% to 22%, the largest increase, moving from fifth place to joint second with Other.
• Defence falls by 9 points, from 16% to 7%, and drops from third place to fifth.
• Debt interest more than halves, from 9% to 4%.
• Pensions are the largest category in both years and grow from 24% to 27%.
• Education is almost unchanged, falling from 13% to 12%, while Transport falls from 8% to 6%.
• The 'Other' category is a large catch-all, rising from 20% to 22%, so mention it once in grouped form.

Useful vocabulary

• accounted for: Pensions accounted for 27% of spending in 2020.
• the largest category: Pensions remained the largest category in both years.
• a sharp rise: Health saw a sharp rise, from 10% to 22%.
• a sharp fall: Defence recorded a sharp fall over the period.
• more than halved: Debt interest more than halved as a share of spending.
• overtook: Health overtook Education and Defence to reach second place.
• a smaller share: Transport took a smaller share of spending in 2020.
• the remaining categories: The remaining categories changed only slightly.

Common mistakes

• Naming Health as the largest category in 2020; Pensions (27%) is larger.
• Describing Education's 1-point fall as a major decline, which overstates a small change.
• Treating the charts as budgets in money terms rather than shares of total spending.
• Listing all seven categories with equal weight instead of focusing on the biggest movers and grouping the rest.
• Saying Health overtook Pensions, which is not what the chart shows.

Examiner tip: Two pies with seven categories will overwhelm a reader. Pick the biggest movers, group the smaller ones, and make sure each sentence compares 1980 with 2020.