# Unevenly distributed column space in table

I have this code:

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin=2.5cm, showframe]{geometry}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{caption}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage[skip=0.33\baselineskip]{caption}
\captionsetup[table]{
font=bf,
size=normalsize,
justification=centerlast,
labelsep=newline
}
\renewcommand\thetable{\Roman{table}}
\begin{document}
\def\arraystretch{1.5}
\begin{table}[!htb]
\centering
\setlength\tabcolsep{0pt}
\sisetup{table-format=2.2, group-separator={,}, group-minimum-digits=4}
\caption{\large{Name of a table that contains no useful knowledge}}
\parbox{\linewidth}{\footnotesize\lipsum[1]\vspace{2ex}}
\medskip\small\begin{tabular*}{\linewidth}{@{\extracolsep{\fill}}
l
S[table-format=-2.2]
*{6}{S}
}
\toprule
\multicolumn{1}{c}{\multirow{2}{*}{Group}}&
\multicolumn{1}{c}{\multirow{2}{*}{Total}}&
\multicolumn{5}{c}{Time--Series Averages of Cross--Sectional Average Monthly Attributes}\\\cline{3-7}
\multicolumn{2}{c}{}&{Value 1}&{Value 2}&{Value 3}&{Value 4}&{Value 5}\\\midrule
All         &11.11 &22.22 &33.33   &44.44   &55.55  &66.66\\\midrule
Characteristic 1\\
Sub 1.1     &11.11 &22.22 &33.33   &44.44   &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 1.2     &11.11 &22.22 &33.33   &44.44   &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 1.3     &11.11 &22.22 &33.33   &44.44   &55.55  &66.66\\\midrule
Characteristic 2\\
Sub 2.1     &11.11 &22.22 &33.33   &44.44   &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 2.2     &11.11 &22.22 &33.33   &44.44   &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 2.3     &11.11 &22.22 &33.33   &44.44   &55.55  &66.66\\\midrule
Characteristic 3\\
Sub 3.1     &11.11 &22.22 &33.33   &44.44   &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 3.2     &11.11 &22.22 &33.33   &44.44   &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 3.3     &11.11 &22.22 &33.33   &44.44   &55.55  &66.66\\\midrule
Characteristic 4\\
Sub 4.1     &11.11 &22.22 &33.33   &44.44   &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 4.2     &11.11 &22.22 &33.33   &44.44   &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 4.3     &11.11 &22.22 &33.33   &44.44   &55.55  &66.66\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular*}
\end{table}
\end{document}


which produces this table

For some reason Value 1 to 4 seems to be evenly distributed, but then a large amount of horizontal space appears between Value 4 and 5. I have tried to tell LaTeX to even out the distribution with the code, but with no luck. I have already read this, but I was wondering if it could be solved within the tabular* environment.

• your "Time--Series Averages of Cross--Sectional Average Monthly Attributes" if far longer than sum of natural width of columns. consequently it "expands" last column ... consider to broke this text into two lines or use tabularx and use for column headers X column type. – Zarko May 1 '18 at 18:41
• – leandriis May 1 '18 at 19:03

As @Zarko has already observed in a comment, the label that spans 5 columns is wider than the sum of the natural widths of the columns. I'd therefore like to suggest that you switch from the tabular* to a tabularx environment.

Separately, you may want to think about using fewer horizontal lines and more (vertical) whitespace.

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin=2.5cm,a4paper]{geometry}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{caption,setspace,lipsum,\
booktabs,siunitx,tabularx}
\newcolumntype{C}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X}
\newcommand\mC[1]{\multicolumn{1}{C}{#1}} % handy shortcut macro
\captionsetup{
font=bf,
size=normalsize,
justification=centerlast,
labelsep=newline,
skip=0.33\baselineskip
}
\renewcommand\thetable{\Roman{table}}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[!htb]
\sisetup{table-format=2.2}
\caption{Name of a table that contains no useful knowledge}
\parbox{\linewidth}{\footnotesize\lipsum[1]\vspace{2ex}}

\small
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{@{} l *{6}{S} @{}}
\toprule
Group & \mC{Total} &
\multicolumn{5}{c@{}}{Time-Series Averages of Cross-Sectional Average Monthly Attributes}
\\
\cmidrule(l){3-7}
&&\mC{Value 1}&\mC{Value 2}&\mC{Value 3}&\mC{Value 4}&\mC{Value 5}\\
\midrule
All     &11.11 &22.22 &33.33 &44.44 &55.55  &66.66\\
Characteristic 1\\
Sub 1.1 &11.11 &22.22 &33.33 &44.44 &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 1.2 &11.11 &22.22 &33.33 &44.44 &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 1.3 &11.11 &22.22 &33.33 &44.44 &55.55  &66.66\\
Characteristic 2\\
Sub 2.1 &11.11 &22.22 &33.33 &44.44 &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 2.2 &11.11 &22.22 &33.33 &44.44 &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 2.3 &11.11 &22.22 &33.33 &44.44 &55.55  &66.66\\
Characteristic 3\\
Sub 3.1 &11.11 &22.22 &33.33 &44.44 &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 3.2 &11.11 &22.22 &33.33 &44.44 &55.55  &66.66\\
Sub 3.3 &11.11 &22.22 &33.33 &44.44 &55.55  &66.66\\