Where you carry fat matters more than how much you weigh. The waist-to-height ratio — your waist measurement divided by your height — is a simple, well-validated marker of the harmful fat stored around your organs, and it predicts cardiovascular and metabolic risk better than BMI alone. The rule of thumb is elegant: keep your waist to less than half your height.
Enter your measurements below for both your waist-to-height ratio and your BMI, with the ranges that matter — including the lower thresholds that apply to people of Asian descent.
Thresholds & method
Waist-to-height ratio = waist ÷ height (same units). Boundary values (Ashwell; NICE 2022): below 0.5 healthy, 0.5–0.6 increased risk, 0.6 or above high risk. A ratio under about 0.4 can indicate being underweight. These boundaries apply across adults of all ancestries and both sexes.
BMI = weight (kg) ÷ height (m)². General categories: under 18.5 underweight, 18.5–24.9 healthy, 25–29.9 overweight, 30+ obese. For people of Asian descent the World Health Organization recommends lower action points — overweight from 23 and obese from 27.5 — because cardiometabolic risk rises at a lower BMI. BMI doesn’t distinguish muscle from fat or show where fat is stored, which is why waist-to-height is the more reliable everyday marker.
Frequently asked questions
What is a healthy waist-to-height ratio?
Keep your waist to less than half your height. A ratio below 0.5 is healthy, 0.5–0.6 signals increased risk, and 0.6 or above is high. It predicts cardiometabolic risk better than BMI alone.
Is waist-to-height ratio better than BMI?
For cardiovascular and metabolic risk, generally yes — it captures the harmful fat stored around your organs, which BMI misses entirely. BMI cannot tell muscle from fat or show where fat is stored.
What are the BMI categories for Asian populations?
The World Health Organization recommends lower action points for people of Asian descent — overweight from a BMI of 23 and obese from 27.5 — because cardiometabolic risk rises at a lower BMI than in other populations.