Waterfall Chart ​

The waterfall chart shows a category's starting and final values over a time period, as well as intermediate positive and negative changes. You can use it to understand the effect of those changes on the initial value and visualize their cumulative effect.

The changes can be time-based (evolution of a value over time) or category-based (various sources of changes for a given period). This chart works nicely with human resources or financial data.

Usage guidelines ​

When to use ​

Questions you can answer

  • How does a value change over time?
  • What is the effect of different changes on a final result?
  • How impactful are those changes?
  • What's the accumulative impact of those changes?
When not to use ​
  • If you want to show category composition, instead of how it changes over time, use a stacked bar chart.
  • You can also use a line chart to show trends over time.
Usage recommendations ​
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If specific values are important, make sure to add labels.
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If initial and final values are much bigger than the intermediate steps, it may be difficult to visualize those changes. Even so, do not truncate the chart and keep 0 as your baseline.
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An alternative is to use the initial value as the baseline. The last bar will not be the final figure, but the absolute net change over the starting value.

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