Graph bar - compare variables over year

[Erik Nyfjell]

From the following dataset:

. list var1 var2 var3 Year in 10000/10001


             var1      var2          var3   Year
10000.        142        239        4631   2010 
10001.        132        194        4494   2011

I use this syntax:

. graph bar var1 var2 var3  if inlist(Year,2010,2011),   ///
    over(Year) ///
    blabel(bar, format(%9.0f) size(small) position(base) ) ///
    blabel(total, format(%9.0f)   ) ///
    legend( size(vsmall) cols(3) order(1 "var1" 2 "var2" 3 "var3"  ))

To produce this graph:



Now, the purpose of the graph is to compare the mean value of each variable in the varlist for different years. For instance, I'd quickly like to see if var1 has decreased or increased from 2010 to 2011. Therefore, I would prefer to have the two bars representing var1 next to each other sorted on years and so on. In essence, it would be perfect to have the varlist variables on the x-axis and the years in the legend.

In addition, I want to see the exact values the bars are representing, as provided for with the blabel.

I hope this rather long example illustrates what I'd like to do, despite my inability to use the proper terminology. I've used several hours experimenting with different bar graph options (and also other kind of graphs), without much luck.

My real dataset consists of eight variables from the years 2005 to 2013. Usually I'd like to pick two or three different years, for instance 2006, 2009 and 2013, to get both a quick understanding of the trend, but also the detailed numbers from the blabel.

[Nick Cox]

I think you need a different data structure for that, except that statplot (SSC) will do the restructuring for you on the fly:

ssc inst statplot
statplot var1 var2 var3, over(Year) recast(bar)

[Erik Nyfjell]

This is exactly what I'm after. Thank you!