The line graph compares the number of men and women who were members of a public library between 1980 and 2010.

Overall, the two groups showed opposite trends. While the number of male members generally declined, female membership increased considerably. Another noticeable feature is that men outnumbered women at the beginning of the period, but this situation was reversed by 1995, after which women remained the larger group.

In 1980, there were around 3,500 male members, which was more than four times the figure for women, at approximately 800. Over the following decade, however, the gap between the two groups gradually narrowed. Male membership fell from 3,500 to about 2,750, whereas the number of women doubled to roughly 1,600. This pattern continued until 1995, when the figures met at just over 2,000, with women slightly ahead of men.

From this point onwards, the difference became increasingly noticeable. Female membership continued to grow, reaching 3,000 in 2000 before peaking at around 3,700 five years later. Although this figure fell slightly to 3,400 in 2010, it was still considerably higher than that for men. In contrast, male membership hit a low of approximately 1,800 in 2000, before recovering gradually to around 2,250 by the end of the period.

Vocabulary to highlight

• show opposite trends — change in different directions
• outnumber — be greater in number than
• was reversed — changed to the opposite situation
• the gap gradually narrowed — the difference slowly became smaller
• whereas — used to make a direct comparison
• the figures met at — the figures reached approximately the same level
• slightly ahead of — a little higher than
• increasingly noticeable — becoming more obvious
• peak at — reach the highest point
• hit a low of — reach the lowest point
• recover gradually — slowly increase after a decline