Labelling lines directly on the graph

[Jad Tamimi]

Hello I have the following data:

* Example generated by -dataex-. For more info, type help dataex
clear
input int year float(tw_eshare sk_eshare jp_eshare hk_eshare us_eshare ch_eshare)
1999   .353104  .2180597   .132673  .07837033 .013242254 .0037732776
2000  .3613982  .1935984 .14054033  .09470285  .01197752 .0041396185
2001  .3733647 .18836835 .13537122  .09850802 .011657768  .008487331
2002  .3761892  .2064878 .12076926  .11045322 .011942135  .011063125
2003  .3783749  .2163858 .11433821  .09861916 .011756462  .016428739
2004  .3859389  .2263669 .11611678  .08417509 .012050012  .016369808
2005  .3845172 .22625177  .1219711  .07566063 .012466455   .02556598
2006 .37641215 .23493522  .1331212 .070133805 .013106585   .02747921
2007  .3615798 .24617197 .14213298  .06388681 .015180472  .032136057
2008  .3476018  .2535338 .14422223  .06750516 .014348704   .03782948
2009  .3287824 .24717003  .1626905  .06264513  .01920605   .04352529
2010  .3215968 .25062367 .16644105  .06488687  .01863375    .0437016
2011  .3131113 .25433823   .173319  .06182805 .016680311   .04585869
2012  .3052285 .25912577 .17756553   .0608872 .016151281   .04603336
2013  .3044777 .26401043  .1663623  .06046329 .017376207   .04823454
2014  .2974295 .28048614  .1559516 .065785125  .01672531   .05081726
2015 .28691626 .29673535 .14978747  .06400553 .016013706   .05590628
2016 .27359244  .3085391   .143486 .065558076 .015584015   .06190511
2017 .26286304  .3131993 .14147463  .06799361 .015544648   .07033642
end

and the following code:

twoway (connected tw_eshare year, mcolor(navy) msize(vsmall) msymbol(circle) lcolor(navy) lpattern(solid)) (connected sk_eshare year, mcolor(midgreen) msize(vsmall) msymbol(square) lcolor(midgreen) lpattern(dash)) (connected jp_eshare year, mcolor(purple) msize(vsmall) msymbol(triangle) lcolor(purple) lpattern(longdash)) (connected hk_eshare year, mcolor(maroon) msize(vsmall) msymbol(diamond) lcolor(maroon) lpattern(dash_dot)) (connected us_eshare year, mcolor(orange_red) msize(small) msymbol(lgx) lcolor(orange_red) lpattern(shortdash_dot)) (connected ch_eshare year, mcolor(red) msize(small) msymbol(plus) lcolor(red) lpattern(longdash_shortdash)), legend(off)

My chart does not look the best right now, but I'm trying to get there. I would like to know how I can add a label directly next to the lines for each of these series, for example, each series represents a country, so next to the end of each line on the graph I would like to label it with the country for which it corresponds. The countries are Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, US, China.

Thanks,
Jad

[George Ford]

https://geterika.com/stats/world-bank-indicators-in-stata

[Dimitriy V. Masterov]

If you want to keep your data in the original wide format, you can use scatteri to label the last value.

If you are willing to reshape to long, you can use mostly missing marker labels. I find the second easier since many Stata commands for panel data require this format and the code is more compact (once the data is transformed)

Here is an example:

clear
input int year float(tw_eshare sk_eshare jp_eshare hk_eshare us_eshare ch_eshare)
1999   .353104  .2180597   .132673  .07837033 .013242254 .0037732776
2000  .3613982  .1935984 .14054033  .09470285  .01197752 .0041396185
2001  .3733647 .18836835 .13537122  .09850802 .011657768  .008487331
2002  .3761892  .2064878 .12076926  .11045322 .011942135  .011063125
2003  .3783749  .2163858 .11433821  .09861916 .011756462  .016428739
2004  .3859389  .2263669 .11611678  .08417509 .012050012  .016369808
2005  .3845172 .22625177  .1219711  .07566063 .012466455   .02556598
2006 .37641215 .23493522  .1331212 .070133805 .013106585   .02747921
2007  .3615798 .24617197 .14213298  .06388681 .015180472  .032136057
2008  .3476018  .2535338 .14422223  .06750516 .014348704   .03782948
2009  .3287824 .24717003  .1626905  .06264513  .01920605   .04352529
2010  .3215968 .25062367 .16644105  .06488687  .01863375    .0437016
2011  .3131113 .25433823   .173319  .06182805 .016680311   .04585869
2012  .3052285 .25912577 .17756553   .0608872 .016151281   .04603336
2013  .3044777 .26401043  .1663623  .06046329 .017376207   .04823454
2014  .2974295 .28048614  .1559516 .065785125  .01672531   .05081726
2015 .28691626 .29673535 .14978747  .06400553 .016013706   .05590628
2016 .27359244  .3085391   .143486 .065558076 .015584015   .06190511
2017 .26286304  .3131993 .14147463  .06799361 .015544648   .07033642
end


/* Wide Format Version */

/* (1) Store the last share in a scalar */
foreach c in tw sk jp hk us ch {
    summarize `c'_eshare if year == 2017, meanonly
    scalar `c'_last_eshare = r(mean)
}

/* (2) Plot with scatteri */
twoway ///
(connected tw_eshare year, mcolor(navy) msize(vsmall) msymbol(circle) lcolor(navy) lpattern(solid)) ///
(connected sk_eshare year, mcolor(midgreen) msize(vsmall) msymbol(square) lcolor(midgreen) lpattern(dash)) ///
(connected jp_eshare year, mcolor(purple) msize(vsmall) msymbol(triangle) lcolor(purple) lpattern(longdash)) ///
(connected hk_eshare year, mcolor(maroon) msize(vsmall) msymbol(diamond) lcolor(maroon) lpattern(dash_dot)) ///
(connected us_eshare year, mcolor(orange_red) msize(small) msymbol(lgx) lcolor(orange_red) lpattern(shortdash_dot)) ///
(connected ch_eshare year, mcolor(red) msize(small) msymbol(plus) lcolor(red) lpattern(longdash_shortdash)) ///
(scatteri `=scalar(tw_last_eshare)' 2017 (3) "Taiwan `=ustrunescape("\uD83C\uDDF9\uD83C\uDDFC")'", msymbol(i) mlabcolor(navy) mlabsize(medlarge)) ///
(scatteri `=scalar(sk_last_eshare)' 2017 (3) "South Korea `=ustrunescape("\uD83C\uDDF0\uD83C\uDDF7")'", msymbol(i) mlabcolor(midgreen) mlabsize(medlarge)) ///
(scatteri `=scalar(jp_last_eshare)' 2017 (3) "Japan `=ustrunescape("\uD83C\uDDEF\uD83C\uDDF5")'", msymbol(i) mlabcolor(purple) mlabsize(medlarge)) ///
(scatteri `=scalar(hk_last_eshare)' 2017 (3) "Hong Kong `=ustrunescape("\uD83C\uDDED\uD83C\uDDF0")'", msymbol(i) mlabcolor(maroon) mlabsize(medlarge)) ///
(scatteri `=scalar(us_last_eshare)' 2017 (3) "Unites States `=ustrunescape("\uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDF8")'", msymbol(i) mlabcolor(orange_red) mlabsize(medlarge)) ///
(scatteri `=scalar(ch_last_eshare)' 2017 (2) "China `=ustrunescape("\uD83C\uDDE8\uD83C\uDDF3")'", msymbol(i) mlabcolor(red) mlabsize(medlarge) xlab(1999(2)2017) graphregion(m(r+27))) ///
, legend(off) name(gph_wide, replace) ytitle("Share")


/* Easier Long Format Version */
rename (*_eshare) (share*)
reshape long share, i(year) j(country, string)
strrec country ("tw" = 1 "Taiwan `=ustrunescape("\uD83C\uDDF9\uD83C\uDDFC")'") ///
("sk" = 2 "South Korea `=ustrunescape("\uD83C\uDDF0\uD83C\uDDF7")'") ///
("jp" = 3 "Japan `=ustrunescape("\uD83C\uDDEF\uD83C\uDDF5")'") ///
("hk" = 4 "Hong Kong `=ustrunescape("\uD83C\uDDED\uD83C\uDDF0")'") ///
("us" = 5 "Unites States `=ustrunescape("\uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDF8")'") ///
("ch" = 6 "China `=ustrunescape("\uD83C\uDDE8\uD83C\uDDF3")'"), replace 
decode country if year== 2017, gen(label)
xtset country year
 
xtline share, overlay legend(off) xlab(1999(2)2017) graphregion(m(r+25)) name(gph_long, replace) ytitle("Share") ///
plot1opts(recast(connected) mcolor(navy) msize(vsmall) msymbol(circle) lcolor(navy) lpattern(solid) mlab(label) mlabcolor(navy) mlabsize(medlarge)) ///
plot2opts(recast(connected) mcolor(midgreen) msize(vsmall) msymbol(square) lcolor(midgreen) lpattern(dash) mlab(label)mlabcolor(midgreen) mlabsize(medlarge)) ///
plot3opts(recast(connected) mcolor(purple) msize(vsmall) msymbol(triangle) lcolor(purple) lpattern(longdash) mlab(label) mlabcolor(purple) mlabsize(medlarge)) ///
plot4opts(recast(connected) mcolor(maroon) msize(vsmall) msymbol(diamond) lcolor(maroon) lpattern(dash_dot) mlab(label) mlabcolor(maroon) mlabsize(medlarge)) ///
plot5opts(recast(connected) mcolor(orange_red) msize(small) msymbol(lgx) lcolor(orange_red) lpattern(shortdash_dot) mlab(label) mlabcolor(orange_red) mlabsize(medlarge)) ///
plot6opts(recast(connected) mcolor(red) msize(small) msymbol(plus) lcolor(red) lpattern(longdash_shortdash) mlab(label)mlabcolor(red) mlabsize(medlarge) mlabpos(2))

This should get you something like this:

If you don't like flags, just get rid of the `=ustrunescape("XXXXXX")'.

[Jad Tamimi]

Thanks alot guys!

[Nick Cox]

I agree strongly that

* direct labelling can be a great improvement on a legend.

* a long layout is preferable (although in Dimitriy V. Masterov 's excellent answer watch out for his typo "Unites States")


That said, there are as always other choices that might work as well or better.

Here I use

1. a front-and-back plot as discussed in https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf...6867X211025838

2. ordering other than alphabetical (using the most recent value is one example) as discussed in https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf...6867X211045582

3. log scale (logit scale would be similar here)

4. percent labels to avoid several leading zeros: see also https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf...6867X221141058

5, zapping the time axis title (no predictable reader needs to see the text "year")


That is, fabplot mylabels myaxis are all from the Stata Journal.

clear
input int year float(tw_eshare sk_eshare jp_eshare hk_eshare us_eshare ch_eshare)
1999   .353104  .2180597   .132673  .07837033 .013242254 .0037732776
2000  .3613982  .1935984 .14054033  .09470285  .01197752 .0041396185
2001  .3733647 .18836835 .13537122  .09850802 .011657768  .008487331
2002  .3761892  .2064878 .12076926  .11045322 .011942135  .011063125
2003  .3783749  .2163858 .11433821  .09861916 .011756462  .016428739
2004  .3859389  .2263669 .11611678  .08417509 .012050012  .016369808
2005  .3845172 .22625177  .1219711  .07566063 .012466455   .02556598
2006 .37641215 .23493522  .1331212 .070133805 .013106585   .02747921
2007  .3615798 .24617197 .14213298  .06388681 .015180472  .032136057
2008  .3476018  .2535338 .14422223  .06750516 .014348704   .03782948
2009  .3287824 .24717003  .1626905  .06264513  .01920605   .04352529
2010  .3215968 .25062367 .16644105  .06488687  .01863375    .0437016
2011  .3131113 .25433823   .173319  .06182805 .016680311   .04585869
2012  .3052285 .25912577 .17756553   .0608872 .016151281   .04603336
2013  .3044777 .26401043  .1663623  .06046329 .017376207   .04823454
2014  .2974295 .28048614  .1559516 .065785125  .01672531   .05081726
2015 .28691626 .29673535 .14978747  .06400553 .016013706   .05590628
2016 .27359244  .3085391   .143486 .065558076 .015584015   .06190511
2017 .26286304  .3131993 .14147463  .06799361 .015544648   .07033642
end

reshape long @_eshare, i(year) j(country) string 

gen Country = "Taiwan" if country == "tw"
replace Country = "South Korea" if country == "sk"
replace Country = "United States" if country == "us"
replace Country = "China" if country == "ch"
replace Country = "Hong Kong" if country == "hk"
replace Country = "Japan" if country == "jp"

myaxis id=Country, sort(mean _eshare) descending subset(year == 2017)

mylabels 1 3 10 30, myscale(@/100) local(yla)
 
fabplot line _eshare year, by(id) ytitle(% share) frontopts(lw(thick))  ///
xla(1999 "1999" 2017 "2017" 2002(3)2014, format(%tyYY)) ysc(log) xtitle("") ///
yla(0.003 "0.3" `yla')

[George Ford]

A lot of useful stuff here. Thanks.