This bar chart was generated using the tools available on the OECD website. The visualization was created and customized without having to download the dataset.
This grid of line charts was generated using the Flourish web-based dataviz platform to illustrate the same data found on the OECD website above. Downloading a .csv file enabled the same data to be visualized using another platform.
This line chart filtered by country was generated using Flourish as well. The visualization represents the same dataset used in the two charts above; however, the .csv file was manipulated to create a column for the “average” ratio. This information was already present in the dataset, and it was only restructured slightly to accomodate for a desired visual element.
While each of these charts was created using the same dataset, the unique ways of visualizing the data can communicate differently to a viewer. The bar chart shows how the debt-to-GDP ratio compares across different countries within the same year. This information is useful to someone who might be assessing a ranking of countries by debt or financial health, or understanding how different governments performed financially in a particular year (2020). In contrast, the grid of line charts communicates about how the debt-to-GDP ratio changed over time, for each country. This chart has a more “zoomed out” view of the data, compared to the bar chart that represented only a subset of the data. The grid of line charts is useful to someone interested in financial trends of countries. It represents all of the data, allowing a viewer to not only understand the trajectory of each country’s debt-to-GDP ratio over time, but also compare across countries. This representation also communicates about where there is missing data, since some lines are shorter than others.
When I began to approach the third and final data visualization, one detail of the dataset I wanted to represent was the average ratio as a comparison for each country’s ratio. This idea led me to use a line graph filtered by country, with the average line represented alongside each country. Since the average line was not the primary focus, I chose to represent it in gray. The country’s line is represented in orange, which I chose as a color that has pretty neutral connotations in this context. The orange could also be interpreted as leaning toward the red color family, which connotes warning or negativity. Since the graph illustrates financial debt, I thought that would be preferable to any color associated with the green color family. This visualization will be useful to anyone interested in a detailed chronology of a specific country’s debt ratio. It will also be useful for understanding how that country’s financial health compares to that of an average country.