diverging bar chart

R code of the ggplot2 example

library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)
library(gapminder)

## African countries of over 10 million people in 2007.
change <- gapminder |>
  filter(continent == "Africa") |>
  group_by(country) |>
  filter(pop[year == 2007] >= 1e7, year %in% c(1987, 2007)) |>
  summarise(change = diff(lifeExp)) |>
  mutate(country = reorder(sub("^Cote d'Ivoire$", "Côte d'Ivoire", as.character(country)), change),
         direction = ifelse(change < 0, "Fell", "Rose"))

## Each word goes past the longest bar of its side.
ends <- change |>
  group_by(direction) |>
  slice_max(abs(change), n = 1)

p <- ggplot(change, aes(x = change, y = country, fill = direction)) +
  geom_col(width = 0.75) +
  geom_vline(xintercept = 0, colour = "#535353", linewidth = 0.4) +
  geom_text(data = ends, aes(label = direction, colour = direction,
                             hjust = ifelse(change < 0, 1, 0)),
            nudge_x = ifelse(ends$change < 0, -0.5, 0.5), size = 3.2) +
  scale_x_continuous(labels = lex_number, expand = expansion(mult = 0.12)) +
  labs(title = "Life expectancy fell by over 4 years in 6 of 26 large African countries",
       subtitle = "Change from 1987 to 2007, countries with over 10 million people in 2007",
       x = "Change in life expectancy (years)", y = NULL,
       caption = "Data: Gapminder, via the gapminder R package") +
  theme_lex_viz(base_size = 8, grid = "x", arrows = "") +
  theme(legend.position = "none")