the drop at the end could easily make a reader think that immigration has dropped recently. to avoid giving that misimpression, i'd recommend to multiply the last datapoints by 10/4; equivalently, think of your y-axis units as immigrants per year, rather than immigrants per 10-year bucket.
the problem with smooth curves is that they create data that doesn't exist; like someone who invents a few extra details when telling a story in order to make it more interesting. there's no clear line between editorializing, clarifying, embellishment and fabrication; even a blue dress can look white.
anyway, smooth curves obscure the limits of your data; without them it'd be more clear that we're strictly dealing with decades. for your most interested readers that clarity would be helpful.
I agree that the drop on the graph may give impression of decrease in immigration, so thank you for your idea about scaling.
I try to keep data 'as is' and give only new image of it but not new data. Scaling makes much more sense (I used it in visualization of Israel immigration because their statistic office has VERY strange approach to period slots).
Regarding smooth curves, you see, the data is unchanged - you can see exact numbers in tooltips, the visualization is just new look of it, what it's supposed to be )
the drop at the end could easily make a reader think that immigration has dropped recently. to avoid giving that misimpression, i'd recommend to multiply the last datapoints by 10/4; equivalently, think of your y-axis units as immigrants per year, rather than immigrants per 10-year bucket.
the problem with smooth curves is that they create data that doesn't exist; like someone who invents a few extra details when telling a story in order to make it more interesting. there's no clear line between editorializing, clarifying, embellishment and fabrication; even a blue dress can look white.
anyway, smooth curves obscure the limits of your data; without them it'd be more clear that we're strictly dealing with decades. for your most interested readers that clarity would be helpful.