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Stacked Column Charts


Stacked bar charts are used to compare categorical data.
The columns' lengths are a good visual for comparison. The chart below displays the comparison among the top 10 energy producer countries in terms of nuclear and renewable energy. The data on the x-axis represents the countries, and the data on the y-axis display the percentage of different energy produced for each country.

Good to know

Pros:

  • Stacked column charts, like the stacked bar charts, work great with categorical data.
  • Stacked column charts are an excellent choice for restricted screens such as phones and tablets, as you can fit a lot of data vertically and users can scroll up and down to get insights.

Cons:

  • Usually stacked column charts are restricted to categorical data only (not versatil chart type).

Remark

You have to be aware that stack charts share only the percentage of the elements but not the real numbers. On the chart above, the audience doesn't know if the quantity of the hydropower energy produced in China is more significant, equal, or smaller than the quantity produced in Russia or Japan; all the audience can gather from the chart is that the hydropower produced in China represent 79% of the chinese renewable and nuclear energy production, where the hydropower generated in Russia and Japan represent 49% and 36%. To share more details with the audience, you can either add more information in the tooltip or add another chart to help the audience to get the whole picture such as a column chart below.

Accessibility

The stacked column chart can be easily adapted to suit the color-blind community (see below), by adding pattern fill chart or a monochrome chart.

Information

Learn more about how to create a stacked bar chart.