Chart type · Comparison
Diverging bars
Bars growing left and right from a zero axis, gainers and losers coloured apart.
How to read it
Zero sits in the middle. Bars run right for gains and left for losses: length is magnitude, side is direction.
Best for
Change figures where the sign is the story.
When not to use it
Everything moved the same way, which reduces the centre axis to decoration.
The common mistake
Mixing percentage change with absolute change on one axis, so a move from a small base outruns a much larger one.
Example data
Which economies grew, and which shrank?
Change in real GDP, year on year
The sample dataset this format ships with, drawn the way the site draws every clip's numbers — hover, sort or step through it. Figures as given by its source line: Illustrative example data.
Examples
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