Describing Pie Charts

Pie charts show how a whole is divided into parts, expressed as percentages or proportions. They are common in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1, either as a single pie chart, a pair for comparison, or combined with other visual types. This lesson provides the vocabulary, structures, and strategies for describing pie charts at Band 7+ level.

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What Pie Charts Show

A pie chart represents 100% of something, divided into segments (slices). Each segment shows the proportion of the whole that belongs to one category.

You may be asked to describe:

• A single pie chart — the breakdown of one dataset
• Two or more pie charts — comparing breakdowns across different times, places, or groups
• A pie chart combined with another visual — e.g., a pie chart and a table

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Essential Vocabulary for Proportions

Fractions and Proportions

Percentage          Fraction Equivalent      Language
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50%                 half                     "Half of the respondents..."
33%                 a third / one third      "A third of expenditure..."
25%                 a quarter               "A quarter of students..."
20%                 a fifth / one fifth     "One fifth of the total..."
10%                 a tenth / one tenth     "A tenth of revenue..."
66%                 two thirds              "Two thirds of production..."
75%                 three quarters          "Three quarters of employees..."

Describing Large Segments

Phrase                              Example
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the largest proportion / share      "The largest share went to education."
the majority of                     "The majority of spending was on housing."
accounted for                       "Housing accounted for 40% of the total."
made up / comprised                 "Transport made up a quarter of costs."
dominated                           "Oil dominated energy production at 60%."
the single biggest category         "Food was the single biggest category."

Describing Small Segments

Phrase                              Example
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the smallest proportion / share     "The smallest share was entertainment."
a minority of                       "A minority of income went to savings."
only / just / merely                "Entertainment comprised just 5%."
a negligible / tiny proportion      "A negligible proportion went to charity."
the least significant category      "Other' was the least significant category."

Describing Approximate Values

When exact percentages are hard to read from the chart:

• approximately / roughly / around / about
• just over / just under
• nearly / close to
• slightly more than / slightly less than

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Key Sentence Structures

Structure 1: Category + accounted for / made up + percentage

"Housing accounted for 35% of total household expenditure."

Structure 2: Percentage + of + total + was/were + category

"35% of total household expenditure was spent on housing."

Structure 3: The largest/smallest + proportion + of + total + went to + category

"The largest proportion of expenditure went to housing, at 35%."

Structure 4: With + data (appositional phrase)

"Housing was the dominant category, with 35% of total spending."

Structure 5: Passive construction

"The highest proportion of expenditure was allocated to housing (35%)."

Band 7+ Tip: Use at least three different structures in your response to demonstrate grammatical range.

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Comparing Two Pie Charts

When you have two pie charts (e.g., household spending in 2000 vs. 2020), you need to describe both the individual breakdowns and the changes between them.

Language for Changes

Change Description                  Example
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increased from X% to Y%            "Housing rose from 25% to 35%."
decreased from X% to Y%            "Food fell from 30% to 20%."
remained unchanged at X%            "Transport stayed at 15%."
doubled / halved                   "Entertainment doubled from 5% to 10%."
there was a shift from X to Y      "There was a shift from food to housing."

Comparison Structures