Pie Chart or Bar Chart?

Pie ChartorBar Chart?CHOOSE THE RIGHT CHART TYPE

Pie Chart or Bar Chart?

This is your data:

What is the best chart type:

A B C D E

39 36 11 9 5

A

B

C

DE

E

D

C

B

A

Pie chart? or Bar chart?


The short answer:

Create a bar chart

A bar chart is almost always a better choice than a pie chart.


The long answer:

It depends

What’s your point?

What’s Your Point?

What’s your message for your audience?

What’s the ONE thing you want people to remember?

Is it important to show that A and B

make up 75% of the total?

Or do you want to show that A is larger than B?

A > B

A + B = 75%

Showing a Percentage


In which chart is it easier to see that A and B make up 75% of the total:

A

B

C

DE

E

D

C

B

A


A + B = 75%



In which chart is it easier to see that A and B make up 75% of the total:

A

B

C

DE

E

D

C

B

A

Pie chart! or Bar chart?

A + B = 75%



TIP

Emphasize your point with color:

A

B

C

DE

A

B

C

DE

A + B = 75%


IMPORTANT

Only create a pie chart when you want to show the percentage of ONE category or ONE group of categories.

Do want to show the percentage of more than one group or category?

Don’t create a pie chart, create a bar chart instead. I’ll show you why...

Comparing Values


In which chart is it easier to see that A is larger than B:

A

B

C

DE

E

D

C

B

A


A > B

Comparing Values


In which chart is it easier to see that A is larger than B:

A

B

C

DE

E

D

C

B

A

Pie chart? or Bar chart!

A > B

Comparing Values

Create a bar chart when you want to compare values.

Why?

Because our brain is not good at comparing the parts of a pie chart, but it’s very good at comparing the length of bars in a bar chart.

What’s My Point?

A bar chart is almost always a better choice than a pie chart.

Why?

In most cases your audience wants to compare values. And comparingvalues is much easier in a bar chart than a pie chart.

E

D

C

B

A

Data & Analytics

Pie Chart or Bar Chart?