Public Debt of the Brazilian Federal Government by National Treasury of Brazil

The idea was to summarize a rather complex, dry and technical report ("Annual Debt Report") in a fun and light-hearted way to a broader audience, showing what happens with the Brazilian Public Debt in one financial year. We represent every R$ 1bn as a little square, arranged on a grid like Tetris blocks. Interest, payments, and new debt are all illustrated in a Tetris-game style, with falling and disappearing blocks, showing how the debt grows (or decreases) with time, and providing pointers for further reading about the topic. We are an experimental unit in the Brazilian Treasury that believes that very important issues and reforms in the Brazilian State are being discussed, but most of the population can't understand the numbers and technicalities of the official reports. So we try to use engaging data visualizations and stories to explain hard, boring financial topics to a larger audience, thus promoting transparency, public discussion, and participation.