Pareto chart

A Pareto chart ranks categories from most to least frequent as bars, with an overlaid cumulative-percentage line showing how few causes account for most of the total.

ByHoang TruongUpdated July 11, 2026

See it move

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A customer-service team logs 200 complaints across five causes, ranked from most to least frequent: shipping delay (90), billing error (50), wrong item (30), damaged package (20), and other (10). The cumulative percentage reaches 45% after the first cause and 70% after the first two, showing that two causes already explain most of the total.

Where it fits

TopicDescriptive StatisticsCoreSubjectData Analysis & StatisticsCore

The formula

LaTeX

CP_k = \frac{\sum_{i=1}^{k} f_i}{N} \times 100

Variables

$C P_{k}$: Cumulative percentage through the k-th ranked category
$f_{i}$: Frequency of the category ranked i
$N$: Total number of observations

Gives the cumulative percentage plotted on a Pareto chart through a given ranked category.

Check yourself

PracticeCORE

A factory logs 150 defects across four causes, already ranked from most to least frequent: machine misalignment (75), operator error (45), material flaw (20), other (10). On a Pareto chart of these causes, what cumulative percentage do the two largest causes together account for?

Select an answer to check your understanding.