Bar Chart

Visualize amounts with respect to one categorical variable

Create Bar Chart Learn more

Bar Chart example: College admission:
How important are each of these factors?

Bar Chart example: Higher quality and lower prices rise China's retail import market incessantly

Bar Chart example: IIT Bombay catapults itself into the
illustrious circle of world-class institutions

Bar Chart example: Jobs at estimated high risk of automation

Bar Chart example: Star Wars Global Box Office

What is a bar graph?

A bar chart is a common graphical display when you want to show quantitative values for a set of categories. The bars represent a set of numerical data points. The length of the bars is proportional to the numerical values associated with each category. The bars can be placed either vertically or horizontally. It is best practice to make the bars start at zero. Otherwise, you run the risk that your chart misleads people.

This type of chart is also known as a bar chart, bar plot, or column chart.

A brief history of the bar chart

The first known bar chart was part of Wiliam Playfair’s The Commercial and Political Atlas, from 1796. The author, a Scottish political economist and a pioneer in data visualization and graphic design, compared year-to-year data of different branches of trade.

How to make a bar chart with Vizzlo

Enter your data either open the “Spreadsheet” in the menu bar and copy&paste your data into the corresponding fields or upload as XSLX or CSV file
change the data of the default entries - just click on any bar and use the input elements in the sidebar
Add additional bars by clicking the “plus” buttons on each side of a bar. Alternatively, click on “+ Add bar” in the menu bar
Explore additional customization options the sidebar
Click on Analysis to add a shade or a projection line

Bar graph pro tips

Bar charts should generally include a zero baseline.
If the labels to identify the bars take up too much horizontal space, swap the x and y-axis.
Always sort your bars if the categorical variable has no natural order.

Bar graph: use case

Almost anything!
Sales volume of different brands
Total number of people living in different cities
The difference in life expectancy between countries or regions

Bar chart: key features

Take advantage of our advanced Analysis functions to visualize growth, trends, projections and benchmarks
Vertical and horizontal views
Sorting bars ascending or descending
Change bar colors
Adjust bar width
Customize axes lines and grid lines
Adjustable minimum and maximum range for y-axis
Analysis lines: growth rates (CAGR), reference lines, trend lines, and benchmarks
Show values and change their number format