IELTS Graph # 275 – How frequently people in the USA ate fast food

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1/ Graph Writing – Bar Chart/ Column Graph:

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The chart below shows how frequently people in the USA ate in fast food restaurants between 2003 and 2013.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

You should write at least 150 words.

Frequency of eating at fast food restaurants
among people in the USA (2003 – 2013)

Model Answer 1:
The column graph illustrates Americans’ habit of eating at fast-food shops in three selected years: 2003, 2006, and 2013.

Overall, most Americans ate at a fast food restaurant either weekly, fortnightly, or monthly, while a few reported going every day or never visiting. Over time, the trend shifted, and American citizens began to eat fast food less frequently.

In detail, in 2003, around 4% Americans ate fast food every day. This dropped slightly to about 3% by 2006 and stayed unchanged in 2013. Those who ate at fast-food outlets several times a week accounted for roughly 20% in 2006, a light increase from 2003. Almost one-third of Americans ate fast food once a week in 2003 and 2006, before decreasing to 27% in 2013. Meanwhile, the proportion of people eating fast food once or twice a month increased from about 30% in 2003 and 26% in 2006, to approximately 33% in 2013, making this frequency the most common by the end of the period.

Moreover, the percentage of USA residents who ate fast food “a few times a year” also grew – from around 15% in 2003 to one-fifth of the total in 2013. Interestingly, the percentage of Americans who completely avoid eating at a fast food restaurant stood at 4 to 5 per cent the entire period.

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Model Answer 2:
The column chart compares how often Americans ate at fast-food restaurants in 2003, 2006 and 2013, across six frequency categories ranging from daily visits to never eating fast food.

Overall, the most common habits in all three years were eating fast food weekly, biweekly, or monthly, whereas only a small minority ate it every day or never. Over time, there was a clear shift away from frequent consumption, with weekly eating becoming less common by 2013 and more people moving towards monthly or occasional visits.

In 2003, the largest proportion of Americans ate fast food once a week, at around 31%, closely followed by those eating it once or twice a month at 30%. By 2006, weekly consumption became even more widespread, rising slightly to roughly 33%, while the monthly group fell to approximately 25%. The share of people eating fast food several times a week also increased during this period, climbing from about 17% in 2003 to around 20% in 2006.

By 2013, however, patterns changed noticeably. One-third of Americans consumed fast food once or twice a month, making it the most common trend, while the weekly frequenters dropped to roughly 27%. At the same time, those eating fast food only a few times a year grew steadily, reaching around 20% in 2013 compared with about 15% a decade earlier. In contrast, the smallest categories remained broadly stable: only around 3–4% ate fast food every day, and roughly 4–5% reported never doing so throughout the period.

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Sample Answer 3:
The diagram compares the frequency of eating fast food by Americans at restaurants in 2003, 2006 and 2013.

Generally speaking, almost half of Americans ate fast food at a restaurant either once or more than a few times a week in 2003, 2006 and 2013. It is worth noting that more Americans chose not to eat junk food as frequently as they used to in the past.

As the diagram suggests, almost one out of twenty Americans ate junk food daily at a shop in 2003, while this rate slightly decreased over the period. Interestingly, roughly the same percentage of US citizens never ate fast food. Again, around 17% of Americans ate at fast-food eateries several times a week, and the trend grew in 2006 before it dropped to just over 15% in 2013. Many Americans preferred eating fast food once a week, and they constituted almost one-third of the total population. Their ratio, however, fell slightly over time. Moreover, a similar percentage of Americans had fast food meals once a month, and their ratio increased. People who rarely dined at a fast-food place accounted for around 15% of the total. The increase in the last two categories suggests that many Americans who more frequently ate at fast food bistro had stopped doing so after a decade.