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§11.2.9

Stacked Bars and Waterfalls

A stacked segment—record its own span or the height at its top?

✅ NormativeSettled. The requirement holds as written.📄 Page ruleCan be applied from the page alone.Read §11.2.9 in the RFC ↗

The requirement

A stacked segment's value MUST be the segment's own span — the size it draws between its two boundaries — never the cumulative height at its top edge. A waterfall step follows the same rule on a floating segment: its value is the rise or fall the step itself draws. Each segment series is a column; a printed total is a value of its own.

When it applies

Writing the running total instead of the segment is the failure this family exists to catch. An estimated segment is read at both boundaries, and its value is the difference.

  • A category whose stack has no segment of one series leaves that cell empty.
  • A printed total above a stack sits in the stack's row, in a last column under an empty header cell (see the chart table's layout in Cover Every Data Point (§11.1.1)).
  • A waterfall's anchor bars (start and end levels) are categories of their own; their values are levels, not changes.

Reading the examples. Each one pairs a source page with the output the rule expects. ✅ Sample: the rule applies. ❌ Counter-sample: it looks like it applies and does not, or a rendering got it wrong. A non-conforming output, in red, is shown only for contrast. … marks content left out of an excerpt.

Examples

01

✅ SampleThe rule applies

Eight regional stacks, four legend series, every segment printing its shareglobal-income-report-2026_p59

32 values, copied with their percent marks. The running header is elided.

Source page
Stacked Bars and Waterfalls — Eight regional stacks, four legend series, every segment printing its share. Source page.
Expected output

…

Figure 2.6. Income at the very top is concentrated in every region of the world economy Bottom 50%, middle 40% and top 10% (top 1% and next 9%) income shares across the world, 2025
Top 1% Next 9% Middle 40% Bottom 50%
Europe 12% 24% 45% 19%
East Asia 17% 28% 42% 13%
North America & Oceania 20% 26% 41% 13%
Sub-Saharan Africa 20% 35% 35% 10%
Latin America 20% 37% 35% 8%
South & Southeast Asia 21% 34% 31% 14%
Russia & Central Asia 23% 28% 35% 14%
Middle East & North Africa 24% 33% 32% 11%

Share of national income (%)

Interpretation. In Latin America, the top 1% receives 20% of national income, and the next 9% a further 37%.

Stacked Bars and Waterfalls · Source page

Eight regional stacks, four legend series, every segment printing its share

Stacked Bars and Waterfalls — Eight regional stacks, four legend series, every segment printing its share. Source page.
02

✅ SampleThe rule applies

Unlabeled segments over a percent gridcredit-outlook-jun2025_p12

Unlabeled segments over a percent grid, with legend-named components and a printed total above each stack. Every segment is read as its own span — EUR High Yield's grey segment runs from about 2.5% to 5.7%, so its value is 3.2%, not 5.7% — and carries the axis's percent mark. Three of the five classes have no hedging segment: those cells are empty. The printed totals, in bold, sit in the last column. The source line runs off the right edge of the page and is written as far as it is visible.

Source page
Stacked Bars and Waterfalls — Unlabeled segments over a percent grid. Source page.
Expected output
European HY Credit Offers the Highest Yield on USD-Hedged Basis Yield decomposition across major credit asset classes
Base Rate Option-Adjusted Spread (OAS) EURUSD 3m Hedging Income
EUR High Yield 2.5% 3.2% 2.4% 8.1%
EM Hard Currency 4.6% 3.3% 7.9%
USD High Yield 4.4% 3.2% 7.6%
EUR IG Corp 2.2% 1.1% 2.3% 5.6%
USD IG Corp 4.5% 0.9% 5.4%

Source: Orvessa Index Services, Tallmere Asset Management. As of May 22, 2025. For illustrative purposes only. Not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. It is not possible to invest directly in an ind

Stacked Bars and Waterfalls · Source page

Unlabeled segments over a percent grid

Stacked Bars and Waterfalls — Unlabeled segments over a percent grid. Source page.
03

✅ SampleThe rule applies

A waterfall between two anchorsrenewables-outlook-2025_p24

2024 prints its level (10 000), 2030 and the five steps are estimates, each step its own rise. A marker series for each share rides on the anchors against the right-hand axis, printing its values (see Dual-Axis and Combo Charts (§11.2.2)); the steps have no markers, so those cells are empty. The printed second axis tier (Generation, Change) groups the categories and has a column of its own; Change spans the five steps as printed. The bars have no legend entry, so their column is headed by the left-hand axis title. Estimates are written in the axis's digit grouping.

Source page
Stacked Bars and Waterfalls — A waterfall between two anchors. Source page.
Expected output
Global renewable power generation in 2024 and 2030, and change by technology
TWh/year VRE share Renewables share
Generation 2024 10 000 15% 32%
Change Hydropower 500
Solar PV 4 000
Wind 2 000
Bioenergy 300
Other renewables 200
Generation 2030 17 000 28% 43%

Share of generation

Caldrivane Energy Office. CC BY 4.0.

Notes: VRE = variable renewable energy. “VRE share” includes solar PV and wind.

Stacked Bars and Waterfalls · Source page

A waterfall between two anchors

Stacked Bars and Waterfalls — A waterfall between two anchors. Source page.
04

✅ SampleThe rule applies

a waterfall where every step prints its value

Eight steps from EBT to FCF, each printing its value above or below its bar, negatives in parentheses; Tax paid and Working Capital are drawn as a line rather than a bar and print their values the same way. Every value is copied as printed. The category labels keep their footnote superscripts, and the unit note heads the value column. The page heading above the chart, and the panels and notes below it, are elided.

Source page
Stacked Bars and Waterfalls — a waterfall where every step prints its value. Source page.
Expected output · excerpt, the chart

…

(£m)
EBT1 (348)
Add back D&A/other non-cash/financing expense 421
Tax paid (6)
Cash generated after tax 65
Working Capital 7
Investing activities2 excluding interest (329)
Net interest paid (139)
FCF (395)

…

Stacked Bars and Waterfalls · Source page

a waterfall where every step prints its value

Stacked Bars and Waterfalls — a waterfall where every step prints its value. Source page.
05

✅ SampleThe rule applies

stacked bars with an annotation column

Four horizontal stacks, one per business area, each printing a growth figure at its end and, in a column to the right, one or two lines naming sub-businesses with their own growth. This is one table, one row per bar, with a column holding each row's annotation lines as a list, so the annotations stay attached to their bar. The two segments of each stack print no value and no axis calibrates them, so they give no column; their legend follows the table as text. The labels and growth figures in heavier type are bold.

Source page
Stacked Bars and Waterfalls — stacked bars with an annotation column. Source page.
Expected output
Caldrivane Group — revenue growth by business area Constant-currency growth, H1 2026 vs H1 2025
Diagnostic Systems +5.1%
  • Molecular Diagnostics +7.4%
  • Point-of-Care Testing +3.2%
Advanced Therapies +8.6%
  • Cell & Gene Therapies +12.1%
Consumer Health +2.3%
  • OTC Wellness +2.9%
  • Personal Care +1.1%
Care Systems +1.4%
  • Diagnostic Imaging +0.8%

Base business

Growth contribution

Stacked Bars and Waterfalls · Source page

stacked bars with an annotation column

Stacked Bars and Waterfalls — stacked bars with an annotation column. Source page.

More

Rule id charts-stacked-bars-and-waterfalls · charts types