Paraphrasing statistics for Writing Task 1 | Writing for Academic IELTS PDF Download

Paraphrasing percentages

• Four-fifths – 80%
• Three quarters – 75%
• Seven out of ten – 70%
• Just over half – 53%
• Two fifths – 40%
• Just over a third – 35%
• Just under a third – 30%
• One quarter -25%
• a fifth – 20%
• Less than a fifth – 15%
• One in ten – 10% (this is used for people or objects)
• From two fifths to less than a fifth – From 40% to 15% (for trends graphs)
• Halved (verb) – dropped by half

Example sentences

• Around fourth fifths of university students stated that the library was the best place for their research.
• Coal accounted for one-quarter of fossil fuels used as an energy source.
• One in ten people reported that they went to fast-food restaurants at least once a month.
• According to the graph, car production in France halved between 1999 and 2004.
• Just under a third of visitors stated that they were happy with the renovations in the museum.
• Exports of semiconductors dropped from two fifths to less than a fifth in three years.

Approximation and proportion

I also advise using set phrases to show approximation and proportion, remember that these are approximate and not exact,  such as:

• Just over a fifth – around 22%
• Just under a fifth – around 18%
• Slightly less than a quarter – 23%
• More than two fifths – around 42%
• Approximately half – 48%
• Around a fifth – 19%
• A large number of – around 70%
• A large proportion of – around 70%
• A significant proportion of  – around 80%
• A small minority of – around 5 to 10%
• A small number/amount of – 5 to 10%
• An insignificant amount of – around  2%

Example sentences (taken from various task 1 reports):

• Approximately half of all vehicles produced in Japan were exported.
• A large proportion of the population of Italy is under 65 years old.
• This figure increased but then dropped to slightly less than a quarter in 2011.
• The graph shows an insignificant amount of software was downloaded in the last part of 2002.
• It can be seen from the table that around a fifth of all passengers used buses in the period between 2012 and 2016.
• The pie chart shows that a large number of tourists visited Kyoto in the first part of 2015