Waist-to-Hip Ratio Calculator

Where you carry fat matters as much as how much you carry. Fat stored around the abdomen is more closely linked to type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure than fat on the hips and thighs. This calculator works out two simple measures of central fat from a tape measure: the waist-to-height ratio, which is the main result when you enter your height, and the waist-to-hip ratio. It also checks your waist size against World Health Organization action levels.

Both ratios work in any unit, since the units cancel out, so you can measure in centimeters or inches.

Waist-to-height ratio = waist ÷ height; aim for under 0.5

Waist-to-hip ratio = waist ÷ hips; WHO cut-off 0.90 for men and 0.85 for women

The simple message "keep your waist to less than half your height" was popularized by Margaret Ashwell and colleagues, whose analyses found a 0.5 boundary worked across sexes, ages and ethnic groups. In 2022 the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) adopted it, classing 0.4 to 0.49 as healthy, 0.5 to 0.59 as increased risk and 0.6 or more as high risk. The waist-to-hip cut-offs come from the 2008 WHO expert consultation.

A woman, waist 80 cm, hips 100 cm, height 165 cm. Waist-to-height is 0.48, in the healthy range, and waist-to-hip is 0.80, below the 0.85 cut-off.

A man, waist 36 in, hips 40 in, height 5 ft 10 in. Waist-to-height is 0.51, just above the 0.5 boundary, while waist-to-hip is 0.90, exactly at the WHO cut-off.

• Stand upright with feet together, arms relaxed, and measure on bare skin or thin clothing.
• Waist: find the midpoint between the lowest rib and the top of the hip bone, often near the belly button. Measure at the end of a normal breath out.
• Hips: measure around the widest part of the buttocks.
• Keep the tape level and snug without pressing into the skin, and take two readings.

You cannot choose where your body loses fat, so sit-ups alone will not shrink your waist. What works is an overall calorie deficit combined with regular activity: aerobic exercise in particular reduces visceral fat, the deeper fat around the organs, even when the scale barely moves. Cutting back on alcohol and sugary drinks, eating more fiber and protein, sleeping seven hours or more and managing stress all help. Measure your waist every month under the same conditions; a falling waist-to-height ratio is a good sign that your health risks are falling too, whatever the scale says.

Studies comparing the measures generally find that waist-to-height ratio predicts cardiometabolic risk at least as well as waist-to-hip ratio and better than BMI alone, and it is easier to use because one boundary fits most adults. Waist-to-hip ratio can be harder to interpret: losing fat from the hips can raise it even as health improves. BMI says nothing about where fat sits, so NICE now recommends using waist-to-height ratio alongside BMI for adults with a BMI under 35.