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About this tool
Classify BMI against the lower WHO Asia-Pacific thresholds (overweight 23, obese 25) and compare with the standard WHO bands.
This calculator works out BMI as weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared, then reads it against the WHO Asia-Pacific thresholds — overweight from 23 and obesity from 25 — instead of the international 25 and 30. It is for people of South and East Asian ancestry, whose risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease rises at a lower BMI and a lower waist circumference than the standard bands imply. Both classifications are shown side by side, along with the South Asian waist cutoffs of 90 cm for men and 80 cm for women.
Open Asian BMI Cutoff Calculator on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Enter the values you already know.
Fine-tune the options to match your scenario.
Read the result and use it in your planning or reporting.
Shows the Asia-Pacific result and the WHO international result together, so the gap is obvious.
Adds the 90 cm and 80 cm South Asian abdominal-obesity thresholds and the waist-to-height ratio.
Converts the healthy BMI band into the actual weight range for your height.
18.5 to 22.9 kg/m2 under the WHO Asia-Pacific guideline, against 18.5 to 24.9 on the international scale. Above 23 counts as overweight or at increased risk, and 25 and above is classified as obese rather than merely overweight.
At the same BMI, South and East Asian populations carry more visceral fat and a higher percentage of body fat, so diabetes and cardiovascular risk appear at a lower weight. The WHO Expert Consultation published in The Lancet in 2004 reviewed this evidence and added public-health action points at BMI 23 and 27.5 for Asian populations.
90 cm for men and 80 cm for women, the South Asian thresholds used by the International Diabetes Federation and the 2009 Indian consensus statement on abdominal obesity. The equivalent European cutoffs are 94 cm and 80 cm. A waist-to-height ratio above 0.5 is a useful second check at any height.
No. BMI in anyone under 18 has to be read against age-and-sex growth charts as a percentile, not a fixed number, because healthy BMI changes year by year through childhood. This calculator only covers adults; a paediatrician or the IAP growth charts are the right reference for a child.
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