IELTSCommonMistakes

Describing statistics: nouns

✅ We use percent or the symbol % after a number: 
Sales fell by two percent / 2% last year.

✅ Percentage is the general noun to describe part of a total, expressed as parts of 100:

The chart shows the percentage of households with more than one car.

✅ Proportion is also used to describe part of a total:

Which country has the highest proportion of people living in poverty?

✅ Rate describes how often or how fast something happens, and some other measures:

The rate of growth is slower in developing countries.

Also: the unemployment/crime rate, the birth/death rate, the exchange/interest rate

✅ A graph has two lines (the vertical axis and the horizontal axis) marked with numbers, and a line or curve showing a trend.

✅ A chart shows statistics in a visual form, often as coloured lines or columns (a bar chart) or as sections of a circle (a pie chart).

✅ A table shows something, usually numbers, organised within a box in rows (going across) and columns (going down).

✅ A diagram is a general word for something represented in a visual form - for example, showing how something works, the stages of a process, etc