Showing data values on stacked bar chart in ggplot2

From ggplot 2.2.0 labels can easily be stacked by using position = position_stack(vjust = 0.5) in geom_text.

ggplot(Data, aes(x = Year, y = Frequency, fill = Category, label = Frequency)) +  geom_bar(stat = "identity") +  geom_text(size = 3, position = position_stack(vjust = 0.5))

Also note that "position_stack() and position_fill() now stack values in the reverse order of the grouping, which makes the default stack order match the legend."

Answer valid for older versions of ggplot:

Here is one approach, which calculates the midpoints of the bars.

library(ggplot2)library(plyr)# calculate midpoints of bars (simplified using comment by @DWin)Data <- ddply(Data, .(Year),    transform, pos = cumsum(Frequency) - (0.5 * Frequency))# library(dplyr) ## If using dplyr... # Data <- group_by(Data,Year) %>%#    mutate(pos = cumsum(Frequency) - (0.5 * Frequency))# plot bars and add textp <- ggplot(Data, aes(x = Year, y = Frequency)) +     geom_bar(aes(fill = Category), stat="identity") +     geom_text(aes(label = Frequency, y = pos), size = 3)

As hadley mentioned there are more effective ways of communicating your message than labels in stacked bar charts. In fact, stacked charts aren't very effective as the bars (each Category) doesn't share an axis so comparison is hard.

It's almost always better to use two graphs in these instances, sharing a common axis. In your example I'm assuming that you want to show overall total and then the proportions each Category contributed in a given year.

library(grid)library(gridExtra)library(plyr)# create a new column with proportionsprop <- function(x) x/sum(x)Data <- ddply(Data,"Year",transform,Share=prop(Frequency))# create the component graphicstotals <- ggplot(Data,aes(Year,Frequency)) + geom_bar(fill="darkseagreen",stat="identity") +   xlab("") + labs(title = "Frequency totals in given Year")proportion <- ggplot(Data, aes(x=Year,y=Share, group=Category, colour=Category)) + geom_line() + scale_y_continuous(label=percent_format())+ theme(legend.position = "bottom") +   labs(title = "Proportion of total Frequency accounted by each Category in given Year")# bring them togethergrid.arrange(totals,proportion)

This will give you a 2 panel display like this:

If you want to add Frequency values a table is the best format.