What is a disadvantage of pie charts?

Pie charts are typically used to represent the proportions of different categories within a whole. A notable disadvantage of pie charts is that they can be ineffective when dealing with large or similarly sized categories, as it becomes challenging for the viewer to accurately compare the segments. When the categories are close in size, the differences can be visually subtle, leading to potential misunderstandings about the data. This makes pie charts less effective in conveying clear differences among data segments when categories are very similar in proportion.

In contrast, while pie charts are not particularly difficult to create, they inherently have limitations in how much data they can effectively convey, especially compared to other chart types like bar or line graphs. They can only display one variable at a time, which also restricts their ability to show relationships between multiple variables, a task that other visualizations handle better. Despite these potential downsides, the critical issue here is the challenge of accurately representing and interpreting data when categories do not differ significantly in size.