Compare and rank
Proportional-area chart
Compares quantities through circle, square or other shape areas.
- Chart
- Magnitude
- Comparison
What it answers
How large are quantities relative to each other?
- Shape
- Value-scaled shapes
- What it shows
- Large differences in magnitude.
Example
The question
How do our five markets compare in size?
Revenue by market, 2025 (area of each square shows revenue, EUR million)
Illustrative data. It belongs to no company.
When to use it
Use it when
Communicating broad magnitude differences.
Avoid it when
When precise comparisons or many near-equal values matter.
How to read it
Compare labelled shape areas, not widths or radii.
Note
Scale area rather than linear dimensions.
The data you need
- Layout
- Long table
- Fields
- Category: text; Value: number
- One row is
- One category and its measured or aggregated value. What is the grain?
- Rules
- Choose an aggregation for repeated categories. Keep units consistent.
- Optional
- Optional Series or label. Wide alternative: one category column plus one value column per series.
- Preparation
- Validate the input grain and missing values. Choose an aggregation for repeated categories. Keep units consistent.
- Units
- Use the measured variable's stated unit consistently. No denominator is implied unless the value is a rate or proportion.
Worked example
Values 25 and 100 use circles with radius ratio 1:2, because area ratio must be 1:4.
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| A | 30 |
| B | 45 |
| C | 25 |