Waist-to-Hip Ratio Calculator

Leave the units on centimetres, choose the female threshold, and enter a waist of 82 cm and hips of 100 cm.

The calculator returns a ratio of 0.82 and places it below the WHO threshold of 0.85. It labels the pattern as lower-body (pear), because the hips are wide relative to the waist.

The next line turns the threshold into a measurement you can check with a tape: at 100 cm hips, the ratio reaches 0.85 when the waist is 85 cm, so this reading sits 3 cm below it.

The last line is a separate check that often surprises people. The same WHO report also gives waist circumference cut-offs on their own, and an 82 cm waist is above the 80 cm figure for women, so it reads Increased risk on that measure even though the ratio is below its threshold. The two numbers answer different questions: one asks how big the waist is, the other asks how it compares with the hips. Reading both is more informative than reading either one.

Ratio: WHR = waist ÷ hip, with both in the same unit. Centimetres divided by centimetres and inches divided by inches give the same number, so the unit switch changes nothing about the result.

Threshold test: the ratio is flagged when WHR ≥ 0.90 for men or WHR ≥ 0.85 for women. These are the values the WHO consultation report uses for substantially increased risk of metabolic complications. There is no intermediate band for the ratio in that report, so this calculator does not invent one.

Waist at the threshold: threshold × hip. It tells you the waist measurement at which your current hips would put the ratio exactly on the line.

Waist circumference bands: the waist is converted to centimetres (inches × 2.54) and compared with the report's cut-offs of 94 cm and 102 cm for men and 80 cm and 88 cm for women, for increased and substantially increased risk respectively.

How to measure, following the WHO protocol: the waist is measured at the midpoint between the lower edge of the last palpable rib and the top of the hip bone (the iliac crest), at the end of a normal breath out. The hips are measured around the widest part of the buttocks. Stand with feet close together and arms at your sides, keep the tape parallel to the floor, and pull it snug without pressing into the skin. Many people measure the waist at the navel or at the narrowest point instead, and those landmarks give a different number.

Switch to inches, choose the male threshold, and enter a 38 inch waist and 40 inch hips.

The ratio is 0.95, which is at or above the 0.90 threshold for men, so the band reads Substantially increased risk and the pattern is central (apple). At 40 inch hips the ratio would reach 0.90 at a 36 inch waist, so this waist is 2 inches past the line.

Converted, the waist is 96.52 cm. That is above the 94 cm cut-off but below 102 cm, so the waist-only band reads Increased risk — one step lower than the ratio suggests. This is the mirror image of the first example, and it shows why the ratio earns its place: this man's waist is not extreme on its own, but it is large relative to his frame.

The thresholds also differ by sex, which is easy to overlook. A ratio of 0.87 is below the male threshold and above the female one, so the same tape readings can land on either side of the line depending on which threshold you select.

An apple shape carries more weight around the abdomen; a pear shape carries more around the hips and thighs. The WHO report explains why the difference matters: fat stored inside the abdomen is more closely tied to insulin resistance, raised blood lipids and blood pressure than fat stored under the skin of the hips and thighs.

That is the reason a hip measurement is in the denominator at all. Two people with the same waist can differ a great deal in how much of their weight is central, and the ratio captures that. In the INTERHEART case-control study of about 27,000 people across 52 countries (Yusuf and colleagues, *The Lancet*, 2005), waist-to-hip ratio was more strongly associated with heart attack than body mass index was.

The ratio has a blind spot in the other direction. If someone loses weight evenly, the waist and the hips shrink together and the ratio barely moves: a 100 cm waist on 110 cm hips and a 95 cm waist on 104.5 cm hips both give 0.91. Tracking the waist measurement alongside the ratio catches progress that the ratio alone would hide.

These two ratios are often confused, and they are not interchangeable. The waist-to-height ratio calculator divides the waist by height and uses a single 0.5 guideline for adults of either sex. Height does not change in adulthood, so that ratio moves only when the waist does, which makes it a clean way to track abdominal size over time.

Waist-to-hip ratio compares the waist with another soft-tissue measurement that also changes with weight, and it needs a different threshold for men and women. What it offers in return is a direct reading of body shape. If you want to know whether your waist is large for your height, use waist-to-height ratio. If you want to know whether your weight is carried centrally rather than on the hips, use this calculator.

Not a diagnosis. A ratio above the threshold is a reason to look at other measures and to talk to a doctor, not evidence of disease. A ratio below it is not a clean bill of health.

Measurement error is large relative to the thresholds. A 2 cm difference in where the tape sits can move the ratio by about 0.02, which is enough to cross a line. Use the WHO landmarks every time, and measure at a similar time of day.

The thresholds are not universal. The WHO report notes that the relationship between these measurements and risk differs between ethnic groups, and that a single set of cut-offs may not fit every population equally well.

Not for pregnancy, and not for children. Abdominal measurements in pregnancy reflect the pregnancy, and children's body proportions change with growth, so adult thresholds do not apply.

It says nothing about muscle. People with a very muscular trunk or unusually narrow or wide hip bones can get a ratio that misrepresents their fat distribution.

Body shape is one piece of the picture. Your BMI relates total weight to height and is the number most clinical guidance starts from, while the body fat calculator estimates how much of that weight is fat rather than lean tissue. If you are setting a weight goal, the ideal weight calculator gives a height-based reference range to compare against. And because central fat matters mainly through its effect on the heart, the Framingham cardiac risk calculator combines blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking and diabetes into a 10-year cardiovascular risk estimate that is far more specific than any body measurement can be.