Is a BMI of 20 healthy?
A BMI of 20 is higher than 21% of men worldwide and 7% of American men. For women it is the 22nd percentile worldwide, and the WHO files it under "healthy weight".
Healthy weightWHO category. BMI is a comparison with a population, not a diagnosis: it does not know muscle from fat, or where the weight sits.
BMI 20 by group
Men
Women
Percentile is the share of the group with a BMI below this one. “1 in X” counts the rarer side: people at or beyond this value above the median, at or under it below. Percentiles are estimated from a normal distribution with each group's mean and standard deviation.
What this means
- For a man of 180 cm (5 ft 11 in), a BMI of 20 is 65 kg (143 lb). For a woman of 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) it is 54 kg (120 lb).
- Across the 186 countries in our data, a BMI of 20 is most ordinary for men in Ethiopia, where it is higher than 49% of men, and stands out most in Tonga, where it is higher than 3%.
- BMI is weight divided by height squared. A rugby forward and a desk worker can share a number and little else, which is why doctors measure waists too.
Questions
- Is a BMI of 20 healthy?
- Yes by the WHO cut-offs: 18.5 to 24.9 is the healthy range. A BMI of 20 is higher than 21% of men and 22% of women worldwide, and 7% of men and 10% of women in the United States.
- How common is a BMI of 20?
- Worldwide, about 1 in 5 men and 1 in 5 women have a BMI of 20 or less. The global mean is 24.5 for men and 24.8 for women.
- What weight is a BMI of 20?
- It depends on height. At 160 cm a BMI of 20 is 51 kg (113 lb); at 170 cm, 58 kg (127 lb); at 180 cm, 65 kg (143 lb); at 190 cm, 72 kg (159 lb).
Source: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, Lancet 2017, age-standardised mean BMI for 2016. Country SDs where published, otherwise the global SD. Percentiles on this page are our estimate from a normal distribution with the stated mean and SD.
Height and weight in, your BMI and country percentile out.
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