Donut Chart

Introduction to Donut Charts

A donut chart (also known as a doughnut chart) is essentially a pie chart with its center area removed. Donut charts encourage us to focus more on arc length rather than area, making it relatively simple to compare different donut charts.

While donut charts and pie charts are similar in terms of data representation, donut charts have their unique advantages:

Better Comparison: Pie charts have strong visual unity, causing viewers to focus on comparing the proportional relationships between slices within a single chart. However, when comparing two pie charts side by side, pie charts make it difficult to compare across different charts. Donut charts solve this problem.
Better Space Utilization: Donut charts can utilize their hollow center area to display text information such as titles, totals, or other important data.

Other Names: Doughnut Chart

Components of a Donut Chart

Chart Type	Donut Chart
Suitable Data	A dataset containing one categorical field and one numerical field
Functionality	Compare the size of numerical values across categories
Data Mapping	Categorical data maps to arc colors Numerical data maps to arc angles Proportional relationships shown by arc size
Data Size Limit	Recommended for no more than 9 data points

Use Cases of Donut Charts

Suitable Use Cases

Example 1: Displaying Categorical Proportions

This usage is similar to pie charts. The chart below shows sales data from a gaming company:

Genre	Sales
Sports	27,500
Strategy	11,500
Action	6,000
Shooter	3,500
Other	1,500

import { Chart } from '@antv/g2';

const chart = new Chart({
  container: 'container',
  theme: 'classic',
});

chart.options({
  type: 'interval',
  autoFit: true,
  transform: [{ type: 'stackY' }], // Add stackY transform
  data: [
    { genre: 'Sports', sold: 27500 },
    { genre: 'Strategy', sold: 11500 },
    { genre: 'Action', sold: 6000 },
    { genre: 'Shooter', sold: 3500 },
    { genre: 'Other', sold: 1500 },
  ],
  coordinate: { type: 'theta', innerRadius: 0.5 },
  encode: { y: 'sold', color: 'genre' },
  legend: {
    color: { position: 'bottom', layout: { justifyContent: 'center' } },
  },
  labels: [
    {
      text: 'genre',
      style: {
        fontWeight: 'bold',
      },
    },
    {
      text: (d, i, data) => {
        const total = data.reduce((acc, curr) => acc + curr.sold, 0);
        const percent = ((d.sold / total) * 100).toFixed(2);
        return `${percent}%`;
      },
      style: {
        fontSize: 10,
        dy: 12,
      },
    },
  ],
});

chart.render();

Explanation:

The genre field maps to color to distinguish different game types
The sold field maps to angle to represent the proportion of sales
Using coordinate: { type: 'theta', innerRadius: 0.5 } creates the donut effect

Example 2: Displaying Additional Information in the Center

The hollow center area of donut charts can be used to display totals, titles, or other important information:

import { Chart } from '@antv/g2';

const chart = new Chart({
  container: 'container',
  theme: 'classic',
});

const data = [
  { type: 'Mobile', value: 54.2 },
  { type: 'Desktop', value: 32.1 },
  { type: 'Tablet', value: 13.7 },
];

const total = data.reduce((acc, curr) => acc + curr.value, 0);

chart.options({
  type: 'interval',
  autoFit: true,
  data,
  coordinate: { type: 'theta', innerRadius: 0.6 },
  encode: { y: 'value', color: 'type' },
  style: { stroke: '#fff', lineWidth: 2 },
  legend: {
    color: { position: 'bottom', layout: { justifyContent: 'center' } },
  },
  labels: [
    {
      text: (d) => `${d.value}%`,
      style: {
        fontWeight: 'bold',
        fontSize: 12,
      },
    },
  ],
});

chart.render();

Unsuitable Use Cases

Example 1: Too Many Categories

The chart below shows population proportions by province. Due to the excessive number of categories, it’s difficult to clearly compare population data across provinces. In such cases, we recommend using bar charts.

import { Chart } from '@antv/g2';

const chart = new Chart({
  container: 'container',
  theme: 'classic',
});

chart.options({
  type: 'interval',
  autoFit: true,
  data: [
    { province: 'Beijing', population: 19612368 },
    { province: 'Tianjin', population: 12938693 },
    { province: 'Hebei', population: 71854210 },
    { province: 'Shanxi', population: 27500000 },
    { province: 'Inner Mongolia', population: 24706291 },
    { province: 'Liaoning', population: 43746323 },
    { province: 'Jilin', population: 27452815 },
    { province: 'Heilongjiang', population: 38313991 },
    { province: 'Shanghai', population: 23019196 },
    { province: 'Jiangsu', population: 78660941 },
    { province: 'Zhejiang', population: 54426891 },
    { province: 'Anhui', population: 59500468 },
    { province: 'Fujian', population: 36894217 },
    { province: 'Jiangxi', population: 44567797 },
    { province: 'Shandong', population: 95792719 },
    { province: 'Henan', population: 94029939 },
    { province: 'Hubei', population: 57237727 },
    { province: 'Hunan', population: 65700762 },
    { province: 'Guangdong', population: 104320459 },
    { province: 'Guangxi', population: 46023761 },
    { province: 'Hainan', population: 8671485 },
    { province: 'Chongqing', population: 28846170 },
    { province: 'Sichuan', population: 80417528 },
    { province: 'Guizhou', population: 34748556 },
    { province: 'Yunnan', population: 45966766 },
    { province: 'Tibet', population: 3002165 },
    { province: 'Shaanxi', population: 37327379 },
    { province: 'Gansu', population: 25575263 },
    { province: 'Qinghai', population: 5626723 },
  ],
  coordinate: { type: 'theta', innerRadius: 0.4 },
  encode: { y: 'population', color: 'province' },
  legend: false, // Too many categories, disable legend
  labels: false, // Too many categories, disable labels
});

chart.render();

Explanation: The chart above has too many categories, making colors difficult to distinguish and labels severely overlapping, making it unsuitable for donut charts.

Example 2: Similar Proportions Among Categories

In the chart below, different game genres have similar sales volumes with very small angular differences, making donut charts unsuitable. In this case, bar charts would be more appropriate.

import { Chart } from '@antv/g2';

const chart = new Chart({
  container: 'container',
  theme: 'classic',
});

chart.options({
  type: 'interval',
  autoFit: true,
  data: [
    { genre: 'Sports', sold: 15000 },
    { genre: 'Strategy', sold: 14900 },
    { genre: 'Action', sold: 15050 },
    { genre: 'Shooter', sold: 13000 },
    { genre: 'Other', sold: 13900 },
  ],
  coordinate: { type: 'theta', innerRadius: 0.5 },
  encode: { y: 'sold', color: 'genre' },
  legend: {
    color: { position: 'bottom', layout: { justifyContent: 'center' } },
  },
  labels: [
    {
      text: (d, i, data) => {
        const total = data.reduce((acc, curr) => acc + curr.sold, 0);
        const percent = ((d.sold / total) * 100).toFixed(2);
        return `${percent}%`;
      },
      style: {
        fontSize: 10,
      },
    },
  ],
});

chart.render();

Explanation: Each category in the chart above has a proportion close to 20%, with very small differences that are difficult to clearly compare through angular sizes.

Extensions of Donut Charts

Faceted Donut Charts

Using G2’s faceting functionality, grouped data can be rendered as multiple donut charts. The chart below shows the profit proportions of the world’s largest 1000 banks by region in 2007 and 2011:

Year	Region	Profit (Billion USD)
2007	Asia Pacific	1485.54
2007	Africa & Middle East	330.12
2007	Latin America	196.5
…	…	…
2011	Asia Pacific	4107.18
2011	Africa & Middle East	495.3
2011	Latin America	495.3
…	…	…

import { Chart } from '@antv/g2';

const chart = new Chart({
  container: 'container',
  theme: 'classic',
});

chart.options({
  type: 'facetRect',
  autoFit: true,
  data: [
    { year: '2007', area: 'Asia Pacific', profit: 1485.54 },
    { year: '2007', area: 'Western Europe', profit: 3631.32 },
    { year: '2007', area: 'North America', profit: 2083.9 },
    { year: '2007', area: 'Africa & Middle East', profit: 330.12 },
    { year: '2007', area: 'Central & Eastern Europe', profit: 141.48 },
    { year: '2007', area: 'Latin America', profit: 196.5 },
    { year: '2011', area: 'Asia Pacific', profit: 4107.18 },
    { year: '2011', area: 'Western Europe', profit: 480.06 },
    { year: '2011', area: 'North America', profit: 1783.08 },
    { year: '2011', area: 'Africa & Middle East', profit: 495.3 },
    { year: '2011', area: 'Central & Eastern Europe', profit: 259.08 },
    { year: '2011', area: 'Latin America', profit: 495.3 },
  ],
  encode: { x: 'year' },
  children: [
    {
      type: 'interval',
      transform: [{ type: 'stackY' }], // Add stackY transform
      coordinate: { type: 'theta', innerRadius: 0.5 },
      encode: { y: 'profit', color: 'area' },
      legend: {
        color: { position: 'bottom', layout: { justifyContent: 'center' } },
      },
      labels: [
        {
          text: (d, i, data) => {
            const total = data.reduce((acc, curr) => acc + curr.profit, 0);
            const percent = ((d.profit / total) * 100).toFixed(1);
            return `${percent}%`;
          },
          style: {
            fontSize: 10,
          },
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
});

chart.render();

Comparing Donut Charts to Other Charts

Donut Charts and Pie Charts

Similarities: Both are used to display proportional relationships of categorical data
Differences:
- Donut charts have a hollow center that can accommodate additional information
- Donut charts emphasize arc length (circumference), while pie charts emphasize area
- Donut charts perform better when comparing multiple charts

Donut Charts and Bar Charts

Donut Charts: Better suited for showing proportional relationships, emphasizing part-to-whole relationships
Bar Charts: Better suited for precise numerical comparisons, especially when value differences are small

Donut Charts and Nightingale Charts (Rose Diagrams)

Donut Charts: Represent values through angles, with fixed inner radius
Nightingale Charts: Represent values through radius, making value differences easier to distinguish

Similar Charts

Radial Bar Chart

Comparison

Pie Chart

Proportion

Nightingale Rose Chart

Comparison