sparkline

R code of the ggplot2 example

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

shown <- c("Cambodia", "China", "Rwanda", "Botswana", "Zimbabwe", "Iraq", "Japan")

## Each line on its own scale, in a band of height 0.7 on its own row.
lines <- gapminder |>
  filter(country %in% shown) |>
  mutate(row = match(country, rev(shown))) |>
  group_by(country) |>
  mutate(y = row + 0.7 * (lifeExp - min(lifeExp)) / (max(lifeExp) - min(lifeExp))) |>
  ungroup()

last <- lines |>
  filter(year == 2007)

p <- ggplot(lines, aes(x = year, y = y, group = country)) +
  geom_line(linewidth = 0.5, colour = "#9b2367") +
  geom_point(data = last, size = 1.3, colour = "#9b2367") +
  geom_text(data = last, aes(x = 1946, y = row + 0.35, label = country), hjust = 1, size = 3.2) +
  geom_text(data = last, aes(x = 2010, label = paste(round(lifeExp), "years")), hjust = 0, size = 3.2) +
  scale_x_continuous(limits = c(1922, 2030)) +
  labs(title = "Only Japan's life expectancy never fell",
       subtitle = "Life expectancy from 1952 to 2007, each line on its own scale; value in 2007",
       x = NULL, y = NULL,
       caption = "Data: Gapminder, via the gapminder R package") +
  theme_lex_viz(grid = "", arrows = "") +
  theme(axis.text = element_blank())