The visual design is appealing. The clarity is appalling. There are good things to be said about the choice of contrasting but complementing colors. The subtle axes are helpful without obscuring the data. The glaring question here is why a radar chart? Do countries somehow naturally follow each other alphabetically in a circle? (Only at the Olympic closing ceremonies!)

Comparison of data points is difficult

To compare one country to another, your eyes have to do a fair bit of work either by following the circle around, or counting grid squares. For example, how does the United States compare to Italy? You have three seconds. Ready, set, go!

Facts are lost in the mushy middle

What's Spain's value (or is that Sweden?). How about Hungary’s “Ideal” value? The inside blue values are almost impossible to read.

Over-emphasis of high numbers



The gap between countries gets larger as values increase. When connecting the points the area created by points higher on the scale is disproportionately larger than those created at the bottom.

To illustrate this point, compare the following charts.