The inspiration for this visualization was one I saw on the website Gapminder charting the Wealth & Health of Nations. The graph shows how long people live (average life expectancy) and how much money they earn (GDP per capita) for each country since 1800 to 2013. In my opinion, this interactive graphic is a bit overwhelming for inclusion in an article. However, it is an excellent example for taking bits and pieces and using for your own visualizations.
For example, in my tableau version where I replaced GDP per capita with health expenditure as a per cent of GDP, I kept several elements from the Gapminder chart:
1) I used a bubble chart with the area of the bubble corresponding to the population size of the country (note: Gapminder allows you to change this feature for a whole range of indicators).
2) I included a slider which changes the chart according to the specific year (note: Gapminder allows manual control over the time slider or you can hit Play and it will automatically proceed through time).
3) I included a side bar for selecting particular countries by their name, region, and/or income group. While Gapminder went with a list of all the countries to select, I used a search box for mine.
4) A map colour-coded by region is also on display and changes as specific countries are selected. This is one feature in which I think I improved over Gapminder's. My graphic highlights specific countries when selected, whereas the Gapminder one only highlights the bigger region.
5) When hovering over the bubble chart, the data for the specific country is displayed. This is another aspect I think I improved over the Gapminder example. My chart shows this data next to the bubble hovered over. The Gapminder version just highlights the data values on the x- and y-axes.
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