IELTS Writing Task 1: Bar Chart Questions
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The chart below shows the amount of leisure time spent alone and with others per day by age group in the United Kingdom.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0
The bar chart reveals the daily number of hours that British people from various age groups spend engaged in leisure activities by themselves and with other people.
Overall, it can be seen that the British spend more of their leisure time with others than alone across all age groups, with the youngest and oldest members of the population spending the most leisure time with others. In addition, time spent alone generally increases with age.
The amount of leisure time that people in the United Kingdom spend with others peaks between the ages of 8 and 15 at a little over 5 hours per day. It then declines to a low of approximately 3.5 hours a day between the ages of 25 and 34, before gradually rising again as people age, reaching around 4.5 hours per day for those aged over 65.
When it comes to leisure time spent alone, the overall trend is similar for those aged over 16, albeit from a lower base. Leisure time spent alone drops from just under 2 hours per day for those aged 16 to 24 to a little over 1 hour per day for those aged 25 to 34, before slowly rising to just under 3 hours per day for the oldest age group. However, whereas those between the ages of 8 to 15 spend the most leisure time with others, they spend the smallest amount of leisure time by themselves at around 1 hour a day.
The chart below shows the average leisure time per week by activity type and gender in the United Kingdom.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0
The bar chart displays the average number of hours that British women and men spend on a range of leisure activities each week.
Overall, it is evident that both men and women spend by far the largest proportion of their leisure time consuming mass media. With a handful of exceptions, men and women spend a similar amount of time on each of the various leisure activities.
British men and women spend a similar number of hours each week attending cultural or participatory activities at around 1 hour per week. They also spend roughly the same amount of time resting or taking time out and eating out, at approximately 2 hours per week.
Larger differences can be seen with the other leisure activities. Men spend more time playing sports and engaged in outdoor pursuits than women, at almost 3 hours per week, whereas women spend more time socialising, at just over 4 hours per week. Men spend more time consuming mass media, at just over 16 hours per week compared to women’s 14 hours or so, but this is not a particularly significant difference given that it is by far the most popular leisure activity for both genders.