English · Graph & Chart Writing
How to Describe a Pie Chart
Describing proportions in a pie chart, with the vocabulary and a model answer.
A pie chart shows proportions of one whole, so describe it with fractions and percentages and always relate the parts back to the total. Begin with the largest segment, then the smallest, then group the rest. Phrases such as "nearly half", "a quarter" and "a small fraction" read better than reciting every percentage.
The format
A pie chart is about proportion
Every segment is a share of one whole, so the description must keep relating the parts back to that whole. The natural language is fractions and percentages — nearly half, a quarter, a small fraction, just over a third — and a pie chart description that never uses one has been written as though it were a bar chart.
Order: largest, smallest, the rest
Begin with the largest segment and end with the smallest, grouping the middle ones. This puts the most informative fact first and gives the paragraph a shape.
- Name the whole first: of the total household expenditure…
- Largest segment, with its share.
- Smallest segment, for contrast.
- Group the remainder — the remaining three categories together account for about a fifth.
- Close with what the distribution shows overall.
Fractions read better than decimals
Percentages and their natural phrasings
| Figure | Natural phrasing |
|---|---|
| 48–52% | about half |
| 32–35% | about a third |
| 24–26% | a quarter |
| 18–22% | about a fifth |
| 10–12% | about a tenth |
| under 5% | a small fraction · a negligible share |
| 66% | two thirds |
| 75% | three quarters |
Two pie charts
If the question gives two pies — two years, or two countries — do not describe each one separately. Describe the first, then describe the second as a change from it: which share grew, which shrank, and which stayed the same. That comparison is the whole point of giving you two.
Model answer
Model paragraph (about 120 words)
The chart
A pie chart showing how an average rural household in Bangladesh divides its monthly expenditure between food, housing, education, health, clothing and other items.
Description
The pie chart shows how an average rural household divides its monthly expenditure among six categories.
Food takes by far the largest share, accounting for roughly half of all spending — more than the next three categories combined. Housing comes second at about a fifth, followed by education at around a tenth. Health and clothing take smaller and broadly similar shares, while all remaining items together make up only a small fraction of the total.
Overall, the chart shows expenditure heavily concentrated on food and housing, which between them absorb around seventy per cent of what the household spends each month.
What earns and loses marks
- Use fractions rather than decimals — “about a third” reads better than “33.4%” and is easier to get right.
- Relate segments to each other, not only to the whole: “more than the next three categories combined” is one sentence doing two jobs.
- Group the small segments instead of naming each one.
- With two pie charts, describe the change, not each chart in turn.
- Make sure your shares are plausible — they must add up to roughly the whole.
Mistakes to avoid
- ✗ Food is 50%, housing is 20%, education is 10%, health is 8%, clothing is 7%, others 5%. ✓ Food takes roughly half of all spending, more than the next three categories combined. — a list of values is the chart written out, not a description
Frequently Asked Questions
Only where you can read them confidently. Fractions — about half, a fifth, a tenth — read more naturally and are less likely to be wrong. What you must not do is list every percentage in order, which reproduces the chart rather than describing it.
Describe the first, then describe the second as a change from it: which shares grew, which shrank, which held steady. The comparison is why two charts were given, and describing them separately as though they were unrelated misses the point of the question.
Group them and say so — “health and clothing take smaller and broadly similar shares”. Noticing that segments are close is a genuine observation about the chart, and it is more useful than forcing a ranking the data does not really support.
Keep going
Model answers, formats and grammar rules for every SSC and HSC writing question.