Printable builder · Landscape · 1 page

The Diverging Bars

A one-page diverging bar chart that lines up two sides of the same set — this vs that, ours vs theirs, then vs now — and draws each category as a matched pair of bars growing out from a shared centre spine: one to the left, one to the right. Because both sides ride the same magnitude axis, the bars are directly comparable — the longer one wins the row, and the whole comparison reads as a shape the way a population pyramid tilts. It beats two columns of numbers because it does the comparing for you: no subtracting in your head, just longer-bar-wins, row after row, with the winning value picked out in bold. The two sides are named and colour-coded — teal on the left, rose on the right — each bar carries its value at the tip, and the header tallies the running total for each side so you can see which one leads overall. It works best when both sides share a scale — dollars against dollars, counts against counts, percentages against percentages, hours against hours. Use it for a budget planned against actual, head count by department across two years, revenue this year versus last, votes for against a motion, time you meant to spend versus what you did, men versus women or age groups in a population, survey agree versus disagree, or any set you measured on two sides and want to weigh against each other. List a label and its two numbers per line and the bars, colours, values and totals draw themselves; leave it blank to print the empty tracks and fill them in by hand.