A selection of graphs from The New York Times featured in “What’s Going On in This Graph?”

Question

ASSOCIATION (relationship between two or more variables)

a. Women Marathoners’ Running Times (scatter plot)
b. World Leader Ages (modified scatter plot)
c. Climate Friendly Electric Cars (scatter plot)
d. Global Life Expectancy and Health Expenditures (connected scatter plot)
e. Solving Gun Murders (scatter plot)
f. Vaccination by Country (bubble scatter plot)
g. International Optimism (scatter plot)
h. Serena Williams’s Record and Legacy (scatter plot)
TIME

a. Voting Shifts (time series)
b. World Cities’ Air Pollution (time series)
c. Covid Herd Immunity (time series)
d. How We Spent Our Time During the Pandemic (slope chart)
e. Covid Hospitalizations (time series)
f. Olympic Gymnastics Routine (connected time series)
g. Pandemic Price Changes (time series)
h. Supply Chain Delays (flowchart)
i. Weddings (time series step graph)
j. Extreme Temperatures (stacked time series)
k. U.S. Population Dynamics (time series)
l. Teen Health-Related Behaviors (time series)
m. Serena Williams’s Record and Legacy (time series)
n. Tree Rings and Climate (stacked area time series)
o. Calling for Climate Action (stacked area time series)
p. Immigrant Economic Mobility (stacked area times series)
q. Temperature Trends (high-low time series)
r. “Tripledemic” (line time series)
s. Global Temperature Change (time series)
t. LeBron James (Time series step graph)
u. Earthquakes (bubble time series)
v. The Anthropocene (time series)
w. Price of Eggs (time series)
x. Baseball Has Changed (line time series)

COMPARING CATEGORIES

a. Essential Workers (bar chart)
b. How We Spent Our Time During the Pandemic (bar chart)
c. U.S. Well-Being Compared Internationally (dot plot)
d. First Vaccinated (bubble chart)
e. Mortality by Race (bar mekko chart)
f. Diversity in Professional Sports (segmented bar graph)
g. Smoking and Income (bar chart)
h. Vaccination Roadblocks (radar graph)
i. Post-Pandemic Jobs (bar chart)
j. Covid in Prisons (connected dot plot)
k. The Pandemic Changed How We Spent Our Time (grouped bar chart)
l. College Essays (bar chart)
m. Global Success Factors (bar chart)
n. Refugees From Ukraine (infographic)
o. Inflation in Words (word cloud)
p. Serena Williams’s Record and Legacy (infographic)
q. Americans Moving (stacked bar graph)
r. Immigrant Economic Mobility (bubble graph)
s. Senate Representation by State (infographic)
t. Russian Trade (radial comparison graph)
u. Online College (segmented bar graph)
v. Social Connections (bar chart)

PARTS TO WHOLE

a. Instant Mastery (infographic)
b. Gas-to-Electric Vehicle Turnover (waffle chart)
c. President Biden’s Economic Plan (Part-to-Whole chart)
d. SNAP ‘Thrifty Food Plan’ (segmented pie chart)
e. Global Carbon Emissions (treemap & segmented bar graph)
f. Clean Energy Metals (stacked bar graph)
g. Where $5 Trillion of Federal Pandemic Stimulus Money Went (treemap & donut map)
h. Free Speech (segmented bar chart)
i. Immigrant Economic Mobility (infographic)
j. Paying College Athletes (segmented bar graph)
k. Russian Trade (treemap)
l. Words Used (segmented bar graph)

MAPS

a. Covid-19 Cases in America (bubble map & choropleth map)
b. Climate Threats (choropleth)
c. 2020 Presidential Election Maps (tile map and choropleth map)
d. U.S. Air Pollution (choropleth map)
e. Recent U.S. Development (map)
f. Global Climate Risks (map)
g. Growing Zones (map)
h. New Normal U.S. Precipitation (choropleth)
i. 2020 Census Redistricting (cartogram)
j. Wind and Solar Power (map)
k. U.S. Population Diversity Shift (map)
l. U.S. Asian Population (map)
m. Extreme Temperatures (bubble map)
n. Endangered Biodiversity (choropleth)
o. Train Derailments (bubble map)
p. Sex Education (tilegram)

OTHER

a. Supply Chain Delays (flowchart)
b. Drawing Voting Maps (infographic)
c. Olympics Medal Count (heatmap)
d. March Madness Bracket (tree diagram)

Pick one of the graphs that you find interesting in the space below.

Answer 1

One graph that I find particularly interesting is "Global Life Expectancy and Health Expenditures" (connected scatter plot).

This graph intrigues me because it visually represents the relationship between two critical factors that impact public health: life expectancy and the amount of money spent on health care. By examining the correlation between these variables across different countries, viewers can gain insights into how health expenditures relate to the overall health of a population.

Additionally, it can highlight disparities between countries, suggesting that higher spending does not always equate to longer life spans, prompting discussions about inefficiencies in healthcare systems, socio-economic factors, and the importance of preventative care. The connected scatter plot format allows for an easy comparison of trends and outliers, making it an effective tool for understanding the complexities of global health economics.