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Statistics Medium #stacked-bar#absolute#composition

Stacked Bar (Multi-Category)

Multiple stacked bars, one per category, with absolute counts.

A free, animated stacked bar (multi-category) you can read here or embed on any website, from Scrollchart.

Stacked Bar (Multi-Category)

A multi-category stacked bar chart places one bar per category along the X-axis and subdivides each bar into stacked segments representing the parts of a total. Unlike the 100% stacked variant, the Y-axis uses an absolute scale, so both questions are answerable at once: which category has the largest total (bar height), and how is each total composed (segment proportions).

Typical applications include revenue broken down by product line across regions, population counts by age group across countries, and survey response counts by demographic segment. The chart rewards readers who need to compare totals as well as breakdown, but it sacrifices precision on individual segment values for any series other than the bottom one, which is the same limitation shared by all stacked forms.

Good for

  • Articles in the statistics category
  • Editorial pages where a quick visual replaces a wall of text
  • Content-marketing posts that need a clean, branded illustration

Source & accuracy

This stacked bar (multi-category) is an editorial illustration built to represent the concept accurately. Where it shows figures, they are typical or representative values chosen to make the relationship clear, not a single underlying dataset. The diagram and its explainer are reviewed and maintained centrally, and updated over time as understanding improves.

Multi-bar stacking with absolute counts preserved

A multi-category stacked bar chart shows several bars side-by-side, each bar representing one category and segmented into components showing absolute (not normalized) counts. Revenue by quarter (Q1-Q4), with each quarter broken into product lines: bar height encodes total revenue, and segment height within each bar shows product contribution.

This differs from 100% stacked bars because totals can vary. Q1 might have 80 units revenue while Q4 has 120; the bars are different heights, making both the totals and compositions visible.

Visual trade-off in comparing components

Segments aligned to the bottom are easy to compare (same baseline). Segments floating in the middle are harder (different baselines, different heights to navigate). Use this chart when total amounts matter as much as composition. If only composition matters, switch to 100% stacked bars for clearer segment comparison.

Embed this diagram

Add this animated stacked bar (multi-category) to your own site. Copy one line of HTML, or use the embed builder for theme and sizing options.

Reference

What this is
A free, embeddable, animated stacked bar (multi-category) for any website.
Who uses it
Data journalists, Researchers & academics, Content marketers, News organizations.
How to embed
Copy one line of HTML. No signup. No watermark. Works in WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Substack, plain HTML.
File size
iframe embed, ~80 KB gzipped (loads on demand, does not block your page paint).
License
Free forever. Editorial explainer text included; updated centrally over time.

Embed format options

Copy the universal HTML snippet, the WordPress shortcode, or an iframe fallback - see the WordPress plugin page for details. Any format keeps the same Core Web Vitals profile and the same explainer text.

Embed snippet
<div data-scrollchart="stacked-bar-multi" data-scrollchart-v="1"></div>
<script src="https://scrollchart.com/embed.js" async></script>

Frequently asked questions

Where can I get a free animated "Stacked Bar (Multi-Category)" for my website?
Scrollchart provides "Stacked Bar (Multi-Category)" as a free, embeddable animated diagram you can add to any website with one line of HTML. No signup is required and there is no watermark. The diagram and its explainer text are served from scrollchart.com, so the embed stays current without any maintenance on your end.
How do I embed a stacked bar (multi-category) in a blog post or article?
Paste the one-line HTML snippet from the Scrollchart diagram page into your post editor. It works in WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, and plain HTML with no plugin required. The animated diagram and its explainer text load from scrollchart.com and render directly in your page DOM.