How to make a scatter plot of two country indicators

Each dot is a country, placed by two values for the same year. A slope across the dots says the measures move together; a dot far from the rest is the story.

Here life expectancy runs across and health spending as a percentage of GDP runs up, for 2023. The United States sits highest, at 16.7% of its economy, yet lived 4.8 years less than Israel, which spent 7.1%.

Eight steps, from an empty studio to the image file. Each picture shows the control to use, ringed in gold.

1. 1

   Open geolens.eu/create and choose Scatter, under Compare countries.

   
2. 2

   Press the indicator name at the top left and pick the measure that runs across, such as life expectancy.

   
3. 3

   Press the vs line under it and pick the measure that runs up, such as health spending.

   
4. 4

   Drag both ends of the year slider to the same year, so every dot shows one moment.

   
5. 5

   Tick the countries you want to name. The first in the list wears the gold, and so does a pick your title names, so drag your story's country to the top.

   
6. 6

   Press Names, the first switch beside the chart, to label the extremes or the countries you choose.

   
7. 7

   Open the menu beside Scatter and choose Log when the values across span a wide range, such as GDP per person.

   
8. 8

   Open Download and choose PNG image. A free account is enough; SVG comes with PLUS.

   

TipUse rates and shares, not totals, or the biggest countries sit in the far corner just for being big.

Choose a pair with a reason to be related: spending and an outcome, income and emissions, schooling and earnings.

The two can come from different publishers: the chart prints both sources.

Dots that move together do not show that one measure causes the other. A third factor, such as income or age, can drive both.

Write the title about what the dots show, a gap or an outlier, as this example does.

Six countries make a comparison. For a general pattern, switch Countries to All, which draws every other country behind your picks, and turn on Trend. It draws a fitted line only when the dots really line up, and never for fewer than eight.