Stacked Area Charts in

Data Presentation

Applications and uses

What are Stacked Area Charts?
• Stacked Area Chart is
plotted in the form of
several area series stacked
on top of one another.
• The height of each series is
determined by the value in
each data point.

https://www.anychart.com/chartopedia/chart-type/stacked-area-chart
What are Stacked Area Charts?
• The Stacked Area Chart type only
works well when more than two
series are present. When only
one series is plotted, such a
graph becomes a simple Area
Chart.
• Do note that the number of
series in a Stacked Area Chart
should be kept moderate as too
many series may well hinder its
legibility.

https://www.anychart.com/chartopedia/chart-type/stacked-area-chart
What are Stacked Area Charts?
100% Stacked Area Charts
• This type of Stacked Area Chart
shows how the constituent parts of
a whole have changed over time.
• The y-axis scale is always 100%.
Each area of color represents one
part of the whole.
• The height of each coloured stack
represents the percentage
proportion of that category at a
given point in time.

http://seeingdata.org/taketime/inside-the-chart-100-stacked-area-chart/
Uses of Stacked Area Charts

• A typical use case for Stacked Area Charts is analyzing how

each of several variables and their totals vary, on the same
graphic
• A stacked area chart depicts data series as stacked regions with
different colors that help perform comparisons between
multiple series for the same data point.
https://www.anychart.com/chartopedia/chart-type/stacked-area-chart
Uses of Stacked Area Charts

• Area charts are perfect when communicating the

overall trend, as opposed to the individual values.
– Use a stacked area chart for multiple data series with part-
to-whole relationships or for cumulative series of values.

https://visage.co/data-visualization-101-area-charts/
Stacked Area Charts – More Examples

https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-global-greenhouse-
gas-emissions
Stacked Area Charts – More Examples

https://codejock.com/products/chart/100-stacked-area-chart.asp
Fin