Question: The bar chart above shows the top ten countries for the production and consumption of electricity in 2014. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Band 8+ Sample Answer:
(Intro & Overview) The bar graphs shows the top ten countries for electricity production and consumption in 2014. Overall, China and the US dominated both production and consumption with figures several times that of the remaining eight countries. In general production exceeds consumption in all countries with the exception of Germany.
(Detail 1) Turning to the detail and looking at electricity production, China is the most significant producer with 5,398 billion kWh, with the US a close second on 4,009 billion. Following this there is significant drop to Russia in third place with 1,057. The remaining eight countries range from 936 billion in Japan to 485 in North Korea.
(Detail 2) Regarding the quantity of electricity consumed, China and the US again lead the way with figures of 5,322 and 3,866 billion kWh. Again, Russia is a distant third with 1,038. The remaining seven areas consume relatively insignificant amounts, with Japan and North Korea similarly top and tailing that list with 857 and 450 billion respectively. Germany is the only country to buck the trend being the 7th highest consumer but the 9th highest producer. (212 words)
Words: Nick Kemp, former IELTS examiner.
Image: Cambridge