Create Your Own Pie Chart

How To Make Pie Charts

Make beautiful data visualizations with our free pie chart maker tool. It’s the perfect tool for creating a quick graph right before a meeting.

What Is  A Pie Chart?

A pie chart demonstrates the distribution of a total quantity between levels of a categorical variable as a circle with radial slices. A single slice of the circle represents each categorical value. The size of each slice (both in terms of area and arc length) reveals how much of the total each category level occupies.

A pie chart is a circular statistical graphic that is divided into sectors or "slices," representing proportional parts of a whole. It effectively displays data and shows the relationship between different categories or components within a dataset.

In a pie chart, each sector corresponds to a specific category or variable, and its size is proportional to the value or percentage it represents. The entire pie represents 100% of the total amount being measured. The individual slices of the pie chart represent the relative proportion or percentage of each category compared to the whole.

Pie charts are commonly used to present data with discrete categories or to show the composition of a whole. They are useful for conveying information at a glance and are often used in business, statistics, market research, and other fields where data visualization is important.

In addition to the sectors, pie charts usually include labels or legends that provide additional information about each category or slice, such as the category name and its corresponding value or percentage. This helps the viewer understand the presented data and compare different categories.

Visualization Tools

Despite their restricted application, pie charts can be produced using most visualization tools. Pie charts are still typical charts that most people can understand, even though they are no longer the preferred choice for most visualization purposes. Pie charts are still excellent for the following tasks: selling a part-to-whole comparison right away.

Understanding the Suitability of Pie Charts for Data Visualization

A pie chart is appropriate in the following situations:

1. Showing parts of a whole: Pie charts are commonly used to represent proportions or percentages of a total. They are effective when you want to visualize how different categories contribute to the whole.
2. Limited number of categories: Pie charts work best when you have a small number of categories (ideally, fewer than six or seven). Too many categories can make the chart crowded and difficult to interpret.
3. Emphasizing differences in proportions: Pie charts allow you to highlight variations in proportions visually. It's easy to compare the sizes of different slices and see their relative differences.
4. Simple data comparisons: A pie chart can be a suitable choice if your primary goal is to provide a high-level overview and quickly compare categories. It offers a straightforward representation of data that is easy to understand at a glance.
5. Non-time-based data: Pie charts are not ideal for displaying trends or changes over time. They are better suited for static data snapshots, rather than dynamic or sequential data.

Remember that choosing the appropriate chart type is important based on your data and the message you want to convey. Other chart types, such as bar charts, line charts, or stacked bar charts, may be more suitable for certain scenarios.