DONUT charts in ggplot2

Donut (doughnut) charts, also known as ring charts, are an alternative to pie charts and can be created in ggplot2 in a similar way.

Sample data set

The data frame below will be used in the following examples.

df <- data.frame(value = c(10, 30, 32, 28),
                 group = paste0("G", 1:4))

Basic donut chart

A donut or ring chart can be created using geom_col, coord_polar(theta = "y") and setting a X-axis limit with xlim the following way.

# install.packages("ggplot2")
# install.packages("dplyr")
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

# Increase the value to make the hole bigger
# Decrease the value to make the hole smaller
hsize <- 4

df <- df %>% 
  mutate(x = hsize)

ggplot(df, aes(x = hsize, y = value, fill = group)) +
  geom_col() +
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  xlim(c(0.2, hsize + 0.5))

Basic ring chart in ggplot2

Hole size

We have developed the previous code so you can set the hole size with hsize. The bigger the value the bigger the hole size. Note that the hole size must be bigger than 0.

Donut chart hole size in ggplot2

# install.packages("ggplot2")
# install.packages("dplyr")
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

# Small hole
hsize <- 1

df <- df %>% 
  mutate(x = hsize)

ggplot(df, aes(x = hsize, y = value, fill = group)) +
  geom_col() +
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  xlim(c(0.2, hsize + 0.5))

Ring chart hole size ggplot2

# install.packages("ggplot2")
# install.packages("dplyr")
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

# Big hole
hsize <- 10

df <- df %>% 
  mutate(x = hsize)

ggplot(df, aes(x = hsize, y = value, fill = group)) +
  geom_col() +
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  xlim(c(0.2, hsize + 0.5))

Adding labels

You can also add labels to each slice of the donut. For that purpose you can use geom_text or geom_label, specifying the position as follows, so the text will be in the middle of each slice. Note that when using geom_label is recommended show.legend = FALSE so the legend box will not be overridden.

# install.packages("ggplot2")
# install.packages("dplyr")
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

# Hole size
hsize <- 3.5

df <- df %>% 
  mutate(x = hsize)

ggplot(df, aes(x = hsize, y = value, fill = group)) +
  geom_col() +
  geom_text(aes(label = value),
            position = position_stack(vjust = 0.5)) +
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  xlim(c(0.2, hsize + 0.5))

Doughnut chart with text in ggplot2

# install.packages("ggplot2")
# install.packages("dplyr")
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

# Hole size
hsize <- 3

df <- df %>% 
  mutate(x = hsize)

ggplot(df, aes(x = hsize, y = value, fill = group)) +
  geom_col() +
  geom_label(aes(label = value),
             position = position_stack(vjust = 0.5),
             show.legend = FALSE) +
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  xlim(c(0.2, hsize + 0.5))

Donut chart with labels in ggplot2

Color customization

The border, fill colors and the theme of the donut plot can be customized in several ways. The following codes and figures display some customization examples.

ggplot2 donut plot border color

Border color

# install.packages("ggplot2")
# install.packages("dplyr")
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

# Hole size
hsize <- 3

df <- df %>% 
  mutate(x = hsize)

ggplot(df, aes(x = hsize, y = value, fill = group)) +
  geom_col(color = "black") +
  geom_label(aes(label = value),
             position = position_stack(vjust = 0.5),
             show.legend = FALSE) +
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  xlim(c(0.2, hsize + 0.5))

ggplot2 donut chart with custom colors

Custom colors

# install.packages("ggplot2")
# install.packages("dplyr")
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

# Hole size
hsize <- 3

df <- df %>% 
  mutate(x = hsize)

ggplot(df, aes(x = hsize, y = value, fill = group)) +
  geom_col(color = "black") +
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = c("#FFF7FB", "#D0D1E6",
                               "#74A9CF", "#0570B0")) +
  xlim(c(0.2, hsize + 0.5))

Donut chart in ggplot2

Color palette and theme

# install.packages("ggplot2")
# install.packages("dplyr")
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

# Hole size
hsize <- 3

df <- df %>% 
  mutate(x = hsize)

ggplot(df, aes(x = hsize, y = value, fill = group)) +
  geom_col(color = "black") +
  geom_text(aes(label = value),
             position = position_stack(vjust = 0.5)) +
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  scale_fill_brewer(palette = "GnBu") +
  xlim(c(0.2, hsize + 0.5)) +
  theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill = "white"),
        panel.grid = element_blank(),
        axis.title = element_blank(),
        axis.ticks = element_blank(),
        axis.text = element_blank())

Legend customization

As in other ggplot2 plots the legend can be customized in several ways. The following codes show how to change the legend key labels, the legend title or how to get rid of the legend.

Legend key labels

# install.packages("ggplot2")
# install.packages("dplyr")
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

# Hole size
hsize <- 3

df <- df %>% 
  mutate(x = hsize)

ggplot(df, aes(x = hsize, y = value, fill = group)) +
  geom_col(color = "black") +
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  xlim(c(0.2, hsize + 0.5)) +
  scale_fill_discrete(labels = c("A", "B", "C", "D"))

Change donut plot key legend labels

Legend title

# install.packages("ggplot2")
# install.packages("dplyr")
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

# Hole size
hsize <- 3

df <- df %>% 
  mutate(x = hsize)

ggplot(df, aes(x = hsize, y = value, fill = group)) +
  geom_col(color = "black") +
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  xlim(c(0.2, hsize + 0.5)) +
  guides(fill = guide_legend(title = "Title"))

Change the ggplot2 title legend in a ring chart

Remove legend

# install.packages("ggplot2")
# install.packages("dplyr")
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

# Hole size
hsize <- 3

df <- df %>% 
  mutate(x = hsize)

ggplot(df, aes(x = hsize, y = value, fill = group)) +
  geom_col(color = "black") +
  coord_polar(theta = "y") +
  xlim(c(0.2, hsize + 0.5)) +
  theme(legend.position = "none")

Donut plot without legend in ggplot2