Pareto chart

A Pareto chart displays data to prioritize problem-solving. It combines a bar chart showing the frequency of occurrence of a series of causes with a line chart showing the cumulative percentage of the same causes.

Source checked2/2 values · 2026-10-25Methodology

Specification

1 source

Kind	methodology
Origin	Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923)

Study notes

The term comes from Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923), who coined the 80/20 rule.
Pareto’s first statement of the rule was based on the discovery that 80% of wealth in societies was controlled by 20% of the population.
Joseph Juran later extended the 80/20 rule to quality problems in 1941, finding that 80% of a problem is typically caused by 20% of the possible causes.
The document states that the 80/20 rule seems to find application in practically every activity.