Population Pyramid How To for Excel

1. Get the data (raw numbers) from e-stat to Excel by exporting or cut/pasting;
whatever you are most comfortable with.
2. The undo button is your friend. If you do something you dont like just click on
the undo button shown below.
3. Write your category labels (age groups) on the left side and your series labels
(gender) across the top

series labels
Hint: If Excel automatically
changes a category label to
a date right-click on the cell,
choose Format Cells, the
Number tab, then choose
Text from the list in the
Categories: box.

category labels
4. Convert the Male population figures to negative numbers. This can be done by
re-typing the numbers with a negative sign or by double-clicking on the cell and
inserting a negative sign in the formula bar; shown below.

5. a population pyramid always uses percentages for comparison. When converting

the 780 males aged 0-9 years to a percentage divide 780 by the total number of
males and females then multiply by 100. In a population pyramid you are
interested in the percent of the total population that is a particular age and
gender. Depending on your comfort level, you could calculate the percentages
using a calculator then type them into the Excel spreadsheet or calculate those
using formulas directly in the spreadsheet.

6. To calculate the percentage using a formula click on a cell then type the = sign
in. The = sign will also appear in the formula bar you can then type the cell
addresses in directly, i.e. B3/D12 or move your cursor to B3, click on it once, type
the / (division) sign, move your cursor to D12, click on it once then type the *
(multiplication) sign and 100. When youre done putting in the formula (either
by typing in the formula or clicking on the cells) press the enter key to finish the
formula. If you try to move to another cell using your cursor Excel will think
youre adding that cell to the formula. You must press Enter to move away
from a cell where you have written a math formula.
7. When you have two columns of percentages (keeping the male percentages
negative) youre ready to make the chart. Highlight the cells containing the
percentages along with the series and category labels, as shown below, then click
on the chart wizard button.

8. The first dialog box to appear is for choosing the chart type. Click on the Bar
chart type and choose the sub-type in the top left corner (called the clustered
bar). Click on the Next button at the bottom of the dialog box.

9. In the next dialog box Excel shows you what it has so far for the chart. Dont
worry about doing anything with this dialog box; just click on the Next button.

10. In the next dialog box you can enter the chart title and axis labels then click the
Next button.

11. In the last dialog box Excel asks where you would like the finished chart to go.
Always choose the second option, As object in then click the Finish button.

12. Your finished chart should appear in the spreadsheet. To move the chart so it
isnt covering any of the cells just position your pointer over the chart, press down
and hold the left mouse button and drag it to a new location. If you wish to resize the chart click once on the chart so the black outline appears with the six little
black boxes around the outside of the chart. Position your cursor over one of the
little black boxes until the cursor changes to a black arrow, press down the left
mouse button and drag the dotted line to where you want the outside edge of the
chart to be.

13. To move the category labels (the age categories) from the middle of the
population pyramid position your cursor over the category (X) axis (the vertical
line at 0) until you see a little box pop up that says Category axis.

14. Right click with your mouse and choose Format axis from the pop up menu that
appears and you will get the following dialog box. If you dont see this exact
dialog box right away click the Patterns tab at the top of the dialog box. In the
bottom right of the dialog box is a heading Tick mark labels and Next to axis
is currently selected. Choose Low to move the category labels to the left side of
the chart or choose High to move the category labels to the right side of the
chart. I am choosing Low which is the convention for charts.

15. Click the OK button at the bottom right of the dialog box and you will see the
category labels have now moved to the left side of the chart (if you chose Low).
To line up the bars so they overlap position your cursor over any of the bars until
you see the word Series in a pop up box. Right click with your mouse and
choose Format series.

16. The following dialog box should appear (choose the options tab if yours looks
different). Go to the Overlap box and press the up arrow button until you see
100 in the overlap box.

17. You should see the bars line up, as shown below. Click the OK button to return
to your chart.

18. To change the category labels so that all are showing instead of every other label
position your cursor over the category labels until a box pops up that says
Category Axis. Right click with your mouse and choose Format axis from the
menu that appears.

19. The following dialog box should appear (click on the Scale tab if it doesnt look
exactly like this).

20. Change the Number of categories between tick-mark labels: from a 2 to a 1

then click the OK button at the bottom of the dialog box.
21. To change the background from grey to white position your cursor over the grey
background until you see a box appear that says Plot Area.

22. Right click with your mouse, choose Format plot area from the menu that
appears, and the following dialog box should appear.

23. Under the heading Area choose None then click the OK button at the bottom
of the dialog box.
24. To change the colour of the Female bars, position your cursor over one of the bars
until a box appears that says Series Female. Right click with your mouse and
choose Format data series from the menu that appears.

25. The following dialog box should appear (if it doesnt look exactly like this click
on the Patterns tab at the top of the dialog box). Under the heading Area
Automatic is currently chosen which means Excel picks whatever colour it
wants for the data series. If you look at all of the little coloured boxes youll
notice that there is one (in this case the burgandy) that is selected and it is the
same colour as the Sample rectangle at the bottom left corner of the dialog box.
The Sample rectangle shows you what your data series (horizontal bar) will look
like when you close the dialog box.

26. Click on the black box in the top right corner of all the coloured boxes and you
will see that Automatic is no longer selected and the Sample rectangle is now
black.

Hint: you can choose any colour,

not just black. For the Series
male you may want to choose
one of the grey colour boxes.

27. When youve made the Female data series black click the OK button then do the
same for the Male series using a different colour, such as grey. The resulting
chart will look like the one below and look better coming out of a black and white
printer.

28. If you want to change what is written in the chart title (currently Sample
Hamilton Population Pyramid) or either of the axis titles (currently Age and
Percent of the population) simply double click on the text and make whatever
change to the text you wish. The second option is to select Chart in the tool bar
at the top of the screen between Tools and Window (if Chart isnt there click
on your population pyramid once and it should appear), choose Chart Option
from the drop down menu that appears, choose the Titles tab then make
whatever change you with to the titles.
29. If you want to change the scale of the y-axis (Percent of the population so the
minimum and maximum are +/-8 instead of +/-10 position your cursor over the yaxis until the box that says Value axis appears. Right click and choose Format
axis from the pop up menu. The following dialog box should appear,

30. Click on the check marks to remove the Auto setting for Minimum, Maximum,
and Major unit. The Auto setting lets Excel choose the values it feels look best.
31. Type -8 in the Minimum box, 8 in the Maximum box and 2 in the Major unit box
(youll get a gridline every 2% on the graph). Your dialog box should now look
like this,

32. Click OK at the bottom of the dialog box and youre done!

33. To put the chart in your report simply click on the chart once so that its
surrounded by the little black boxes (just like above), right click, and select
Copy from the drop down menu that appears.
34. Position your cursor in the word document where you would like the population
pyramid to appear. Select Edit from the toolbar at the top of the screen and

choose Paste special from the drop down menu. The following dialog box will
appear,

35. Choose Microsoft Excel Chart Object and click OK

36. Dont forget to cite where you got the information for your chart. You can either
type this directly under the chart or place a text box under the chart and enter the
citation into the text box.