Part of a whole

Nested doughnut chart

Shows related compositions or hierarchy levels using concentric rings.

Chart
Composition
Hierarchy

What it answers

How do related compositions or hierarchy levels compare?

Shape: Concentric segmented rings
What it shows: Between-ring composition or hierarchical breakdown.

Example

The question

How does each region’s sales split between online and stores?

Sales by region (inner ring) and channel within region (outer ring)

Inner ring shows each region’s share of sales; the outer ring splits it into online (solid) and stores (faded). North 40% (online 22%, stores 18%); South 35% (online 12%, stores 23%); East 25% (online 15%, stores 10%).

Illustrative data. It belongs to no company.

When to use it

Use it when

A few related wholes or carefully labelled hierarchy levels.

Avoid it when

When independent totals and parent-child levels are mixed ambiguously.

How to read it

Identify what each ring represents before reading its segments.

Note

Clarify independent ring totals versus parent-child levels.

The data you need

Layout: Parent-child table
Fields: NodeID: text; ParentID: text/blank; Label: text; Value: number when size is encoded
One row is: One node in a parent-child hierarchy. What is the grain?
Rules: Node IDs must be unique. Parents must exist. Reject cycles. Define leaf-only versus inclusive parent values.
Optional: Alternative: Level1,Level2...,Value. Tree diagrams can omit Value.
Preparation: Choose independent-ring totals or a true hierarchy explicitly, then calculate each ring's relevant shares.
Units: For independent rings use each ring's total; for a hierarchy specify root versus parent percentages.

A parent-child table: each row names its parent, which together form the tree.

Worked example

Outer ring A1=20, A2=40, B=40; inner A=60, B=40. A1 and A2 subdivide inner A; do not count both rings as separate totals.

NodeID	ParentID	Label	Value
root		All	100
a	root	A	60
b	root	B	40

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