This Indian Life · Chart library

18 forms, each for a shape of data

Every chart on the site is one of these. Each is chosen by the shape of the data and the question, never for novelty, and every example below is drawn from data already on the site. All of them download as SVG, PNG and CSV.

Heat strip

Data shape: Many units × many years, one measure
Use it for: When each unit crossed a threshold, and in what order
Avoid when: Exact values matter more than the pattern

Births per woman by state, 1971 to 2023 · Sample Registration System, via Data For India

Tile-map small multiples

Data shape: One time series per state
Use it for: Regional patterns, with every state given equal space
Avoid when: Area or population should dominate the read

Births per woman, 1971 to 2023; shading is the gap to 2.1, the grey line is India · Sample Registration System, via Data For India

Scatter with a fit

Data shape: Two measures for the same units
Use it for: An association, with the outliers named and the correlation printed
Avoid when: Readers will take it as cause; say so in the title

Circles sized by population; least-squares line with its 95% band, r = −0.64 · NFHS-6 2023-24; SRS 2023; RBI state population

Parade

Data shape: Values for fractiles of a population
Use it for: Inequality, with each group as wide as its share of people
Avoid when: The groups are not ordered

Monthly spending per person by fractile class, 2023-24 · MoSPI Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24

Sensitivity curves

Data shape: An estimate that depends on a chosen threshold
Use it for: Showing the range a choice creates, not one answer
Avoid when: The threshold is fixed by law and not in dispute

A sensitivity simulation from unit-level data, not an official estimate · HCES 2023-24 unit-level data; This Indian Life calculation

Dumbbell

Data shape: Two survey rounds, many units
Use it for: Who moved, by how much, and who fell back
Avoid when: There are more than two time points

Women aged 15-49 with a mobile phone they use themselves · NFHS-5 and NFHS-6

Rank slope

Data shape: The same units ranked two ways
Use it for: Where two rankings disagree
Avoid when: The gaps between ranks are what matter

Large states ranked by monthly spending per person, 2023-24 · MoSPI HCES 2023-24

Beeswarm

Data shape: One value per year or place, up to a few hundred
Use it for: A whole distribution, with every case still visible
Avoid when: The order in time is the point

All-India June to September rainfall, departure from normal, one dot per year · IMD; NOAA Oceanic Niño Index

Stripes

Data shape: One value per year, a long run
Use it for: Making a century of variation visible at a glance
Avoid when: Readers need to read off exact values

One stripe per monsoon, brown dry and green wet; red marks are droughts in El Niño summers · IMD; NOAA Oceanic Niño Index

Ridgeline

Data shape: A distribution for each of several groups
Use it for: How the shape of a spread changes across eras or places
Avoid when: A group has fewer than about 20 values

Monsoon rainfall departures by 25-year era; the white tick is each era's median · IMD

Day ribbon

Data shape: Parts of a fixed whole: a day, a rupee, a hectare
Use it for: How two groups divide the same whole
Avoid when: The parts do not add up to a real total

Minutes a day in paid and unpaid work, people aged 15-59 · MoSPI Time Use Survey 2024

Unit chart

Data shape: A single share
Use it for: Making a percentage feel like people
Avoid when: The share is under 2% or must be compared with many others

64 in every 100 women have a mobile phone they use · NFHS-6, 2023-24

Interval plot

Data shape: Estimates that are ranges, not points
Use it for: Showing honest uncertainty, side by side
Avoid when: The range is so narrow that a dot would do

What a month of GLP-1 treatment costs in India, low to high, with the typical price · GLP-1 retail price tracking (press, mid-2026)

Calendar heatmap

Data shape: One value per day over months or years
Use it for: Seasons, weekdays and shocks in daily data
Avoid when: The series is weekly or sparser

Daily change in the Nifty 50, 2023 to 2026; trading days only · RBI Database on Indian Economy

Connected scatter

Data shape: Two measures moving together through time, for a few units
Use it for: Paths: who got where, and in what order
Avoid when: More than about six units, or readers new to charts

Odd years, 1981 to 2023. Incomes are nominal and the RBI back-series steps up about 15 to 18% at the 2011-12 base change · RBI DBIE per-capita NSDP; SRS via Data For India

Waterfall

Data shape: Parts that add up to a total, some negative
Use it for: Which parts pushed a total up and which pulled it down
Avoid when: The parts are not additive

Contributions to all-India CPI inflation, December 2025, percentage points · MoSPI, Consumer Price Index

Slope

Data shape: Two points in time for a handful of units
Use it for: Who moved and how far, with both values printed
Avoid when: More than about a dozen units, or when the path between the points matters

Share of employment in agriculture, 1991 and 2025; India in sindoor, the world in ink · World Bank WDI (ILO modelled estimates), SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS

Stacked area

Data shape: Parts of a total, year by year
Use it for: How the mix changes while the total grows
Avoid when: Readers must compare the middle layers precisely; use lines instead

India's electricity generation by source, terawatt-hours, 2000 onward; fossil in greys, clean sources in the data inks · Ember, yearly electricity data