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Your waist-to-hip ratio is your waist measurement divided by your hip measurement. It shows where you carry fat rather than how much: in large studies, a higher ratio went with more heart attacks and type 2 diabetes. The World Health Organization (WHO) counts 0.90 or more for men, and 0.85 or more for women, as a substantially increased risk. Measure your waist halfway between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone, and your hips around the widest part of your bottom, then enter both. Add your height and the calculator also shows your waist-to-height ratio from the same tape measurement, the measure the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) uses.
Enter your waist and hips in centimetres or inches, and choose female or male, or show both of WHO's cut-offs. Add your height for your waist-to-height ratio from the same waist, and your age if you like. Tick a box if you're pregnant or your body mass index (BMI) is 35 or more.
0.80
Below WHO's cut-off for women (0.85). WHO gives no lower, healthy band.
Waist ÷ hips: 80 ÷ 100 = 0.80
From the same waist, your waist-to-height ratio is 0.48. NICE's band: healthy central adiposity: waist-to-height ratio 0.4 to 0.49, indicating no increased health risks. Waist-to-height ratio calculator
Risk rises steadily with the ratio rather than jumping at the cut-off, so being just under it isn't an all-clear.
This ratio shows where you carry fat, not how much. In big studies a higher ratio went with more heart attacks and type 2 diabetes, but on its own it doesn't diagnose anything or tell you your own risk.
A centimetre or two either way can move your ratio by about 0.02, and people measuring themselves tend to read their waist a little small. Measure twice and use the average.
| Source | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| WHO, 1999Its working definition of the metabolic syndrome | above 0.85 | above 0.90 |
| WHO, 2008 consultationReprinted among "the recommendations often attributed to WHO" | 0.85 or more | 0.90 or more |
The calculator counts a ratio of exactly 0.85 or 0.90 as at the cut-off, as the 2008 table does. WHO gives no lower band, and its 2008 consultation set no cut-offs of its own.
If you have, or think you might have, an eating disorder, these numbers aren't the right tool. See a GP, or talk in confidence to Beat on 0808 801 0677 (England); Beat's helplines lists the numbers for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Measure your waist halfway between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone, the site WHO and NICE both use, and your hips around the widest part of your bottom, in the same units. Then divide: a waist of 80 cm and hips of 100 cm give 0.80. The ratio has no units, so inches give the same answer.
WHO's 1999 report on diabetes counted a ratio above 0.90 in men, or above 0.85 in women, as central obesity, and WHO's 2008 expert consultation listed 0.90 or more and 0.85 or more as a "substantially increased" risk of metabolic complications. WHO sets no lower, healthy band.
In 27,098 people in 52 countries, heart attack risk rose with every fifth of the ratio, and in 479,610 UK adults the ratio was more closely linked with heart attacks than BMI, especially in women. Across 31 cohort studies, each 0.1 higher went with 20% higher mortality.
For future type 2 diabetes the waist-to-height ratio was the stronger marker, NICE found the measures similarly accurate overall, and in 58 studies none of BMI, waist or waist-to-hip ratio improved heart risk prediction once blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol were known.
People's own measurements of their ratio matched a trained measurer's poorly, and repeat measurements of the ratio agreed less well than repeat waist or BMI measurements. A centimetre or two either way can move it by about 0.02, enough to cross a cut-off.
Risk rises steadily with the ratio rather than stepping up at the cut-off, so being just under it isn't an all-clear. The "ideal" 0.7 you may see comes from studies of attractiveness, not health.
Waist-to-hip ratio = waist ÷ hips, in the same units: WHO describes it as "the waist circumference divided by the hip circumference". The calculator shows it to two decimal places and classes the ratio it shows, as our waist-to-height ratio calculator does, so 0.896 shows as 0.90 and counts as at the men's cut-off. Switching between centimetres and inches converts your measurements to the nearest half.
Source 1
WHO's 2008 consultation measures the waist "at the midpoint between the lower margin of the least palpable rib and the top of the iliac crest" (the top of the hip bone), and the hips "around the widest portion of the buttocks, with the tape parallel to the floor", standing with feet close together and arms at the side, "at the end of a normal expiration". Each is measured twice and averaged if the two are within 1 cm. NICE's waist is the same, "midway between these points (this will be just above the belly button)", and the NHS adds: "Breathe out naturally, do not hold your tummy in".
WHO's 1999 report on diagnosing diabetes suggested a "working definition" of the metabolic syndrome, to be improved on later, that counted "Central obesity (males: waist to hip ratio > 0.90; females: waist to hip ratio > 0.85) and/or BMI > 30". WHO's 2008 consultation reprinted these cut-offs, in a table of "the recommendations often attributed to WHO", as 0.90 or more (men) and 0.85 or more (women) for a "substantially increased" risk of metabolic complications. The same annex warns that the waist sizes credited to WHO "were an example only": that warning is about waist sizes, not these ratios, which are in WHO's own 1999 report. The consultation set no cut-offs of its own: "Making definitive decisions on actual cut-off points was outside the scope of the consultation".
The calculator counts a ratio at or above the cut-off, as the 2008 table prints it. The 1999 wording says "above", so a ratio of exactly 0.90 (men) or 0.85 (women) counts under the 2008 table but not the 1999 definition (our reading). Below the cut-off, the result says only that: WHO gives no lower band, and risk rises steadily with the ratio, so the calculator never calls a ratio healthy or low risk.
Add your height and the calculator divides the same waist by it and gives NICE's band, as our waist-to-height ratio calculator does: 0.4 to 0.49 is "healthy central adiposity", 0.5 to 0.59 "increased" and 0.6 or more "high". NICE uses that ratio only for adults with a BMI under 35, so if you tick that box, the calculator leaves it out.
Source 2
Under 18, or in pregnancy, the calculator stops. A ratio below 0.5 or above 1.5 is so unusual that it asks you to check your measurements instead of giving a cut-off (our choice; the average in UK Biobank was 0.875). With "Show both", the result gives WHO's cut-off for women and for men. If you give an age of 65 or more, it notes that the ratio predicts less well in older people.
Rounded as the calculator rounds them.
INTERHEART compared 12,461 people who'd had a heart attack with 14,637 who hadn't, in 52 countries. Each fifth of the ratio carried more risk than the one below it, up to an odds ratio of 2.52 for the top fifth against the bottom (1.75 after other risk factors), and the top two fifths of the ratio accounted for 24.3% of heart attacks, against 7.7% for the top two fifths of BMI. In UK Biobank, each standard deviation of the ratio went with a 49% higher risk of heart attack in women and 36% in men, against 22% and 28% for BMI.
Across 15 studies of 258,114 people, each 0.01 rise in the ratio went with 5% more cardiovascular events. In nine British cohorts (82,864 people), the ratio and waist were each linked with deaths from cardiovascular disease, 15% more per standard deviation, and no measure picked out risk better than the others. In 359,387 Europeans, the top fifth of the ratio carried a 68% (men) and 51% (women) higher risk of death after allowing for BMI. Across 31 cohort studies, each 0.1 higher went with 20% higher mortality, and across 9, each 10 cm more hip went with 10% lower.
People with genes for a higher ratio, whatever their BMI, had more type 2 diabetes (an odds ratio of 1.77 per standard deviation) and coronary heart disease (1.46), which the authors called "supportive of a causal association between abdominal adiposity and these outcomes".
Source 14
For future type 2 diabetes (15 studies), the relative risk per standard deviation was 1.62 for the waist-to-height ratio, 1.63 for waist, 1.55 for BMI and 1.52 for the waist-to-hip ratio. Across 10 studies the waist-to-height ratio was the best at picking out high blood pressure, diabetes and abnormal blood fats. For heart attacks in UK Biobank, the waist-to-hip ratio was a little stronger in women (1.49 against 1.34 per standard deviation) and similar in men (1.36 against 1.33).
In 58 studies of 221,934 people, BMI, waist and waist-to-hip ratio, alone or together, "do not importantly improve cardiovascular disease risk prediction" once blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol are known. The ratio was also the least repeatable of the three: measured again, it agreed less well than waist or BMI.
Source 9
NICE's 2022 evidence review found BMI, waist, waist-to-hip and waist-to-height ratios "overall were similar in their accuracy". NICE chose the waist-to-height ratio because it "only requires one additional measurement", its classification "is the same for all ethnicities and sexes", and it conveys the message that "your waist should be half your height". WHO, too, favours waist size "due to the relative ease of obtaining" it: "Measuring hip circumference may be more difficult than measuring waist circumference alone".
In 4,492 British adults, people measured their own waist 3.1 cm (men) and 1.9 cm (women) smaller than a technician did, and their ratio correlated only 0.44 and 0.62 with the technician's. In 613 Thai adults, self-measured waist and waist-to-height ratio agreed well with trained staff but the ratio didn't: "Self-reported measurements should not be used to derive the WHR" (the waist-to-hip ratio). In a study of adolescents, trained measurers' waist and hip readings differed by about 1.2 to 1.6 cm.
WHO's consultation noted studies suggesting lower cut-offs for Asian populations, such as 0.90 for men and 0.80 for women, cut-offs like Europe's in the Middle East, and no African studies of the ratio. It recommended no population-specific values: "Only in populations of Asian descent were differences in risk sufficient to warrant consideration of alternative cut-off points". No UK guideline sets waist-to-hip cut-offs: NICE uses the waist-to-height ratio, with the same bands for everyone.
With a 4.5 kg weight gain, men's waists grew 4 cm and their hips 2.5 cm, but women's waists 3.3 cm and hips 3.6 cm, so weight change moves men's ratios more. The ratio predicts better in young and middle-aged adults than in older people. A year of gender-affirming hormones lowered the ratio by 0.03 in trans women and raised it by 0.01 in trans men.
WHO's method, with NICE's and the NHS's words for the waist. Use a tape measure that doesn't stretch.
NICE uses the waist-to-height ratio for adults with a BMI under 35, with a simple message: keep your waist to less than half your height. It needs one tape measurement and has one cut-off for everyone, so it's the easier check to repeat (our reading).
It reflects your hips as well as your waist. In UK women it was a little more closely linked with heart attacks than the waist-to-height ratio. Bigger hips went with lower risk once BMI was allowed for, an odds ratio of 0.73 in INTERHEART, so a ratio can fall because your hips are bigger rather than your waist smaller (our reading).
For your own heart and diabetes risk, a check of your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar tells you far more than either ratio. NICE suggests that adults with an increased waist-to-height ratio "seek advice and further clinical assessments (such as a cardiometabolic risk factor assessment) from a healthcare professional".
A woman's waist and hips change together as she gains or loses weight, so her ratio can stay much the same. Your waist measurement, or your waist-to-height ratio, shows the change better.
Source 1
The calculator stops. No guideline we found sets waist-to-hip cut-offs for children. NICE uses the waist-to-height ratio from age 5, and the NHS calculator for 5 to 17-year-olds is used with a parent or carer after checking BMI.
The calculator stops in pregnancy: your waist and hips change, and WHO's report notes that pregnancy is "associated with gains in visceral and central adiposity postpartum". After birth, give your body time; your midwife or health visitor can talk to you about your weight.
Source 1
These numbers aren't the right tool. The calculator shows where to get help under every result, and the support section below has the numbers.
The ratio still works, but NICE doesn't use the waist-to-height ratio at this BMI, so the calculator leaves that line out.
Source 2
In lipoedema, fat builds up in "your bottom, thighs, lower legs", with "a narrow waist" in the early stages, so the ratio can read low. The waist-to-height ratio is a better guide.
Source 23
Your waist measurement won't reflect fat, so the ratio won't either. Ask your care team instead.
WHO's cut-offs were set for women and men, and the ratio moves with treatment. Choose "Show both" to see both cut-offs; your clinic can advise which applies.
WHO's method is standing, and NICE notes "challenges in using BMI or waist-to-height ratio in people who have a physical disability, some physical conditions (such as scoliosis)". Ask a health professional how to adapt the measurements.
WHO's report notes the ratio is "strongly predictive in young and middle-aged adults compared to older people and those with low BMI", so the calculator adds a note from 65.
Source 1
Some calculator sites print low, moderate and high bands and credit them to WHO, but WHO's report has one cut-off for each sex, at which risk is substantially increased, and no lower bands.
Source 1
Preferences for a low ratio come from studies in which men rated how attractive drawings of women were. Health guidance uses 0.85 for women, risk rises steadily with the ratio, and no health body names 0.7.
It was a little stronger than the waist-to-height ratio for heart attacks in UK women but weaker for future diabetes, NICE found the measures similarly accurate, none of them helps a heart risk check much, and the ratio is the hardest to measure well.
Larger hips went with lower risk once BMI was allowed for, in INTERHEART and across cohort studies, where each 10 cm more hip went with 10% lower mortality.
WHO's cut-offs go with the midpoint between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone, the site NICE uses. Other sites give a different number, though they rank people's risk in much the same way.
In women the waist and hips changed by about the same amount with weight change, so the ratio barely moved. Your waist, or your waist-to-height ratio, shows the change better.
Source 1
It shows where fat sits, "both subcutaneous and intra-abdominal adipose tissue", not how much there is. Our body fat calculator estimates the percentage.
Source 1
If you have, or think you might have, an eating disorder, these numbers aren't the right tool. See a GP as soon as you can, or talk in confidence to the eating disorder charity Beat: 0808 801 0677 (England), 0808 801 0432 (Scotland), 0808 801 0433 (Wales) or 0808 801 0434 (Northern Ireland). Beat's helplines are open 3pm to 8pm, Monday to Friday, and it also offers web chat and email. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 999 or Samaritans on 116 123; for medical advice, contact your GP or call 111.
The NHS lists signs such as spending a lot of time worrying about your weight and body shape, eating very little food, exercising too much, and having very strict habits or routines around food.
Source 21
If you check or measure your body often in a way that upsets you, a GP can help. You can also refer yourself to NHS talking therapies for difficult feelings such as worry or low mood, if you're 18 or over (16 in some areas) and registered with a GP.
Source 24
If your ratio is at or above the cut-off, or you're worried about your heart or diabetes risk, ask your GP practice about checking your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar (our suggestion). NICE suggests this kind of check for an increased waist-to-height ratio.
If numbers like these make you anxious, set goals for health and strength instead, such as walking further or lifting a little more (our suggestion, as in our exercise for weight loss guide).
Whole-body activity, not exercises for your stomach, trims the waist. These mix walking and steady cardio with strength work, and the low-impact circuit has no jumping.
A 10-minute routine for straight after a meal: an easy walk, a few simple standing moves from blood sugar trials, then a short walk to finish.
10 minBeginner6 movesCardio machine, A bench or boxA steady 30 to 45 minute cardio session at talk-but-not-sing pace: walk, cycle, row or cross-train, counting toward weekly activity guidelines.
40 minBeginner3 movesCardio machine, A wallA 25-minute standing cardio circuit with no jumping: marching, step jacks, sit-to-stands, punches, step-ups and wall push-ups, with a seated option for most moves.
25 minBeginner9 movesA bench or box, A stepA 45-minute session for weight loss and health: a 20-minute brisk walk, which does more for the scales, then a short-rest Pilates circuit for strength.
45 minBeginner11 movesCardio machineA 20-minute full-body dumbbell workout: two supersets of squats, rows, Romanian deadlifts and push-ups. Twice a week covers the minimum dose.
20 minBeginner8 movesA dumbbell, A bench or boxWHO counts a ratio of 0.90 or more for men, or 0.85 or more for women, as a substantially increased risk of metabolic complications such as type 2 diabetes. WHO gives no healthy band below that, and risk rises gradually with the ratio rather than jumping at a line. In the UK, NICE uses the waist-to-height ratio instead: keep your waist to less than half your height.
Stand with your feet together and breathe out normally. Measure your waist halfway between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone, and your hips around the widest part of your bottom, with the tape level and snug but not tight. Measure each twice, use the average if they're within 1 cm, and divide your waist by your hips.
Below 0.85 is below WHO's cut-off for women, but WHO doesn't call any range healthy. A woman's ratio can stay much the same as her weight changes, because her waist and hips change together, so your waist itself or your waist-to-height ratio shows change better. The "ideal" 0.7 you may see comes from studies of attractiveness, not health.
Below 0.90 is below WHO's cut-off for men. Men tend to carry more of their fat around the middle, and their waists grow more than their hips as they gain weight, so the ratio moves more with weight in men than in women.
In big studies it tracked heart attack risk more closely than BMI: in INTERHEART, the highest ratios accounted for about a quarter of heart attacks, against under a tenth for the highest BMIs. But for one person, neither adds much to a check of your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar.
They're similar overall. The waist-to-hip ratio was a little stronger for heart attacks in women in UK Biobank, and the waist-to-height ratio stronger for future diabetes. NICE found them similarly accurate and chose waist-to-height because it needs one tape measurement and has one cut-off for everyone.
NICE, which sets the guidance the NHS follows, found the measures similarly accurate and chose the waist-to-height ratio. Your height is usually measured already, it needs only your waist, its cut-off is the same for both sexes and all ethnic backgrounds, and keeping your waist to less than half your height is easy to remember. WHO also favours waist measures, because hips are harder to measure.
WHO's 2008 consultation noted studies suggesting lower cut-offs for Asian populations, such as 0.90 for men and 0.80 for women, but didn't recommend them, and no UK guideline sets any. NICE's waist-to-height ratio uses the same bands for everyone.
Whole-body activity and eating less trim the waist; exercising your stomach muscles doesn't burn the fat over them, as our exercise for weight loss guide explains. Because your hips can shrink too, especially in women, track your waist or waist-to-height ratio as well as the ratio.
Small differences in where the tape sits make a big difference: even trained measurers differ by about 1.2 to 1.6 cm, and people measuring themselves tend to read their waist a little small. With hips of 100 cm, a 1.5 cm difference in the waist changes the ratio by 0.015, so measure twice, at the same time of day, and use the average.
Estimates for healthy adults, not a personal prescription or a diagnosis, and clinical review of these pages is pending. Check with a GP before hard training or testing a maximum if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
