[Excel] How to make a population pyramid with bar charts

The traditional population pyramid, easy to make but not necessarily the most effective.

Traditional population pyramid with bars in Excel
Traditional population pyramid with bars in Excel.

Design notes

  • Using bars to make a population pyramid is the most common form of making this chart.
  • The cart feels too heavy and probably is not ideal for the demographers themselves, who are more interested in the overall shape then in comparing individual values.
  • Instead of a legend, you can place a text box to the left of the y axis with “Male” and one to the right of the axis with “Famale”

Video

Notes

  • 00:15: Create a new [Male] column multiplying values by -1 so that this series is displayed to the left of the y-axis.