Waist-to-Hip Ratio Calculator

The waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is a simple measure of body fat distribution. Fat stored around the abdomen (apple shape) carries significantly higher cardiovascular disease risk than fat stored around the hips and thighs (pear shape).

The Formula:

WHR = Waist circumference / Hip circumference

(Both measurements in the same unit, cm or inches. The ratio is dimensionless, so it does not matter which you use as long as you are consistent.)

Measurement Technique:

• Waist: at the midpoint between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone, at the end of a normal breath out. This is the WHO protocol. You will also see “the narrowest point” quoted, which sits higher and gives a flattering ratio, so pick one and stay with it.
• Hips: at the widest point of the buttocks, tape level all the way round

The WHO cut-off:

The World Health Organization’s 2008 expert report draws one line, not three. At or above it, the risk of metabolic complications counts as substantially increased.

You will also see an older three-band table, widely reproduced, that calls men low risk up to 0.95 and high risk only above 1.0. It is looser than the WHO line for men by a full tenth, which is why this page uses the WHO figure. On that table a man at 0.95 is “low risk”; on the WHO line he is already over.

Worked Example:

Female with waist = 76 cm, hip = 98 cm:

WHR = 76 / 98 = 0.776, under the 0.85 line (pear shape)

Male with waist = 100 cm, hip = 102 cm:

WHR = 100 / 102 = 0.98, over the 0.90 line. His 100 cm waist is over 94 cm on its own too, so both readings agree.

WHR vs. BMI:

The best-known evidence is INTERHEART, a study of 27,000 people in 52 countries published in The Lancet in 2005. Waist-to-hip ratio predicted heart attack far more strongly than BMI did, and once the ratio was known, BMI added almost nothing.
The ratio is a proxy rather than a scan: it cannot see visceral fat directly, but a waist that is large for the hips usually means fat stored around the organs. And because it ignores weight, a muscular athlete with a high BMI can still have a healthy ratio.

Practical Tips:

• When the ratio and the waist-alone reading disagree, the waist alone is the one most guidelines act on, since wide hips can hold a ratio down
• Abdominal fat responds well to aerobic exercise. Even with the scale unmoved, exercise shifts where the fat sits, which is the part that matters here
• The cut-offs above are for European populations. The International Diabetes Federation uses lower waist figures for South Asian, Chinese and Japanese adults: 90 cm for men and 80 cm for women