how to use "the figure for"?
Hi, I'm having trouble with the using of "the figure for". Some one told me that I have to use it as "the figure for + specific noun", which mean if I wrote "the figure for a country over a period of ten years" it would be incorrect. I should write "the figure for France over a period..." or something like that instead.

Is this true? Please help me to understand the way to use "the figure for" and I'd appreciate if you can show me some examples. Thank you!

Question

how to use "the figure for"?
Hi, I'm having trouble with the using of "the figure for". Some one told me that I have to use it as "the figure for + specific noun", which mean if I wrote "the figure for a country over a period of ten years" it would be incorrect. I should write "the figure for France over a period..." or something like that instead.

Is this true? Please help me to understand the way to use "the figure for" and I'd appreciate if you can show me some examples. Thank you!

Answer

"The unemployment rate in the UK is around 8%.  However, the figure for Switzerland is much lower"
"the figure for" is not an idiom.  I hope this helps.

Answer

Hi Thuy... I'm not very comfortable with using "the figure for..." to mean " the number for".  I can understand it but "figure" doesn't feel like the best word to use if you are trying to indicate a number in a table or a graph.  I would be more inclined to use the words "statistic", "amount", "quantity", etc.

That said, I don't think it would be horribly wrong to use "the figure for France has increased over a period of ten years".  Alternatively, you could also say "the figures for France have increased over a period of ten years".

Hope that helps.