Part of a whole
Stacked column chart
Stacks component values vertically to show totals and composition across categories or periods.
- Chart
- Composition
- Trend over time
What it answers
How do total and composition change by period?
- Shape
- Segmented vertical columns
- What it shows
- Changing totals and changing contribution.
Example
The question
What makes up our costs each quarter, and how does the total move?
Costs by type and quarter, 2025 (EUR million)
Illustrative data. It belongs to no company.
When to use it
Use it when
Showing additive components and totals across ordered periods.
Avoid it when
When overlapping negative values or many components obscure the baseline.
How to read it
Compare column totals first, then component thicknesses.
The data you need
- Layout
- Long table
- Fields
- Category or ordered position: text/date; Series: text; Value: number
- One row is
- One series value within one category or position. What is the grain?
- Rules
- Use one value per category-series pair after aggregation. Define category and series order.
- Optional
- Wide alternative: Category,North,South with one row per category.
- Preparation
- Validate the input grain and missing values. Use one value per category-series pair after aggregation. Define category and series order.
- Units
- Use the measured variable's stated unit consistently. No denominator is implied unless the value is a rate or proportion.
Worked example
Data Jan: A=30, B=45; Feb: A=34, B=40. Totals fall from 75 to 74 while A increases.
| Category | Series | Value |
|---|---|---|
| A | North | 30 |
| A | South | 45 |
| B | North | 34 |
| B | South | 40 |