Back-to-Back Bar

When you want to emphasize how two categories are different, point the bars outwards in opposite directions.

Some people love these, others hate them because our eyes have to zig-zag back and forth in order to compare the categories. Use with caution.

Tutorials

• Making Back-to-Back Graphs in Excel by Stephanie Evergreen

Examples

• Immigrants Eligible and Ineligible for Relief Under Obama Programs
• World population pyramid (a back-to-back histogram)
• Japan’s working-age population of males and females

• Small Multiples Bar
• All
• Side-by-Side Bar