BMI Calculator for Men
BMI misreads muscular men more often than it misreads anyone else. Here is the number, and here is why your waist is the better measurement.
A healthy BMI for a man is 18.5–24.9 on the WHO international scale, and roughly 18.5–22.9 if you are of Asian descent and read the WHO Asia-Pacific scale. A healthy weight at 5'10" is 59–79 kg (129–174 lb). Body fat uses a different scale: about 14–24% for adult men. And if you lift, the BMI number is the least useful reading on this page — a lean 6'0" man at 95 kg scores BMI 28.4, which is "obese" on the Asia-Pacific scale and nowhere near it in reality.
BMI Calculator
Measure at the midpoint between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone, on a normal breath out. Needed to assess central obesity and waist-to-height ratio.
Comparison baseline: WHO Asia-Pacific (WPRO / IASO / IOTF)
This calculator covers 11 published standards: WHO international, the WHO 2004 Asian action points, WHO Asia-Pacific, China's WS/T 428, Hong Kong Department of Health, Singapore HPB, Japan JASSO, Korea KSSO, the Misra Indian consensus and ADA 2026. BMI is a screening tool, not a diagnosis.
Is there a separate BMI chart for men?
No. The cut-points are identical for men and women in every standard on this site — WHO, NICE, the ADA, WS/T 428, JASSO, KSSO and HPB. Where the official numbers genuinely diverge between the sexes is the waist threshold, and the healthy body fat range, which is far lower for men.
A calculator that returns a different classification depending on the sex box you tick, for the same height and weight, is not reading a more precise standard. It is inventing one.
The two charts that actually apply to a man
WHO international (global)
| BMI range | Classification |
|---|---|
| < 18.5 | Underweight |
| 18.5 – < 25 | Normal weight |
| 25 – < 30 | Overweight |
| 30 – < 35 | Obese class I |
| 35 – < 40 | Obese class II |
| ≥ 40 | Obese class III (severe obesity) |
Source: WHO Expert Consultation, Lancet 2004 — Appropriate body-mass index for Asian populations · WHO — Obesity and overweight fact sheet(WHO technical report series / current global reference)
WHO Asia-Pacific (WPRO / IASO / IOTF)
| BMI range | Classification |
|---|---|
| < 18.5 | Underweight |
| 18.5 – < 23 | Normal |
| 23 – < 25 | Overweight (at risk) |
| 25 – < 30 | Obese I |
| ≥ 30 | Obese II |
Source: WHO / IASO / IOTF — The Asia-Pacific Perspective: Redefining Obesity and Its Treatment (2000) · KOSSO Obesity Fact Sheet 2024 — cites the 2000 Asia-Pacific criteria as its definition(The Asia-Pacific Perspective: Redefining Obesity and Its Treatment (2000))
At 1.80 m the top of the healthy band is 81.0 kg on the international scale and 74.5 kg on the Asia-Pacific scale. For a man of Asian descent the WHO's own 2004 consultation found risk already substantial below BMI 25, so the second column is the one to read. All eleven national standards are compared here.
Height and weight chart
| Height | Healthy (BMI 18.5–25) | Overweight (BMI 25–30) | Obese |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4'10"147 cm | 89 – 119 lb | 120 – 143 lb | ≥ 144 lb |
| 4'11"150 cm | 92 – 123 lb | 124 – 148 lb | ≥ 149 lb |
| 5'0"152 cm | 95 – 128 lb | 129 – 153 lb | ≥ 154 lb |
| 5'1"155 cm | 98 – 132 lb | 133 – 158 lb | ≥ 159 lb |
| 5'2"157 cm | 102 – 136 lb | 137 – 164 lb | ≥ 165 lb |
| 5'3"160 cm | 105 – 141 lb | 142 – 169 lb | ≥ 170 lb |
| 5'4"163 cm | 108 – 145 lb | 146 – 174 lb | ≥ 175 lb |
| 5'5"165 cm | 112 – 150 lb | 151 – 180 lb | ≥ 181 lb |
| 5'6"168 cm | 115 – 154 lb | 155 – 185 lb | ≥ 186 lb |
| 5'7"170 cm | 119 – 159 lb | 160 – 191 lb | ≥ 192 lb |
| 5'8"173 cm | 122 – 164 lb | 165 – 197 lb | ≥ 198 lb |
| 5'9"175 cm | 126 – 169 lb | 170 – 203 lb | ≥ 204 lb |
| 5'10"178 cm | 129 – 174 lb | 175 – 209 lb | ≥ 210 lb |
| 5'11"180 cm | 133 – 179 lb | 180 – 215 lb | ≥ 216 lb |
| 6'0"183 cm | 137 – 184 lb | 185 – 221 lb | ≥ 222 lb |
| 6'1"185 cm | 141 – 189 lb | 190 – 227 lb | ≥ 228 lb |
| 6'2"188 cm | 145 – 194 lb | 195 – 233 lb | ≥ 234 lb |
| 6'3"191 cm | 149 – 200 lb | 201 – 240 lb | ≥ 241 lb |
| 6'4"193 cm | 152 – 205 lb | 206 – 246 lb | ≥ 247 lb |
Rounded inward — lower bounds up, upper bounds down — so adjacent bands never overlap. Every figure is derived from the BMI formula (kg/m²) rather than transcribed.
Why BMI says you are overweight when you are not
Muscle is denser than fat, and BMI cannot tell the two apart — it only knows total mass divided by height squared. That makes it structurally biased against anyone carrying more lean tissue, which in practice means more men than women.
A 6'0" man at 95 kg scores BMI 28.4. On the WHO international scale that is overweight. On the WHO Asia-Pacific scale, and under Hong Kong's, Korea's and India's standards, it is obese. If his body fat is 13%, neither label describes him. NICE states the caveat directly in NG246: BMI should be interpreted with caution in adults with high muscle mass.
The ADA's 2026 standards give the figures behind that caution. BMI's sensitivity for detecting obesity is roughly 50% — about half of people who have it are missed by BMI alone — and the guidance names adults with high muscle mass alongside Asian populations and older adults as the groups it serves worst. That is the reason the ADA allows a waist measurement to override the BMI band rather than just annotate it.
Waist thresholds for men, by standard
If you are going to keep one measurement besides your weight, make it this one. It costs nothing, it needs no standard switch for ethnicity, and it catches the risk BMI misses.
| Standard | Men | Women | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChinaNational Health Commission of the PRC — health industry standard WS/T 428 | ≥ 90 cm | ≥ 85 cm | Central obesity is defined as a waist of 90 cm or more in men and 85 cm or more in women. A pre-central-obesity band (85–<90 cm men, 80–<85 cm women) sits below it. |
| SingaporeHealth Promotion Board (HPB), Ministry of Health | ≥ 90 cm | ≥ 80 cm | A waist of 90 cm or more (men) or 80 cm or more (women) signals raised risk even when BMI looks acceptable. |
| JapanJapan Society for the Study of Obesity (JASSO) | ≥ 85 cm | ≥ 90 cm | JASSO's primary criterion is not waist circumference but visceral fat area of 100 cm² or more on abdominal CT. Waist is used only as a screening trigger to decide who gets the scan — and the screening thresholds are ≥85 cm in men and ≥90 cm in women. |
| South KoreaKorean Society for the Study of Obesity (KSSO) | ≥ 90 cm | ≥ 85 cm | Abdominal obesity is defined as a waist of 90 cm or more in men and 85 cm or more in women. |
| India and South AsiaConsensus statement for Asian Indians (Misra et al., JAPI 2009); Indian Council of Medical Research | ≥ 90 cm | ≥ 80 cm | Abdominal obesity is defined as a waist of 90 cm or more in men and 80 cm or more in women — the lowest female threshold of any standard on this page. |
| ADA 2026 standard for Asian populationsAmerican Diabetes Association — Standards of Care in Diabetes 2026, adult overweight and obesity | ≥ 90 cm | ≥ 80 cm | Within BMI 23.0–27.4, a waist of 90 cm or more (men) or 80 cm or more (women) upgrades the classification from overweight to obesity. |
| WHO internationalSubstantially increased risk | ≥ 94 cm | ≥ 80 cm | The WHO's ethnicity-neutral figures. Higher than the Asian thresholds, and the reason a man can pass the WHO figure while failing the one his own guideline uses. |
| Waist-to-height ratioNICE NG246 / ADA 2026 | < 0.5 — same for both sexes | Keep your waist below half your height. It needs no ethnicity, no sex and no age adjustment — which is why it is often called the single best screening number for central obesity. | |
The 90 cm threshold and the 0.5 ratio agree closely for men: 90 cm is exactly at 0.5 for a 180 cm man, under it at 183 cm, and over it at 175 cm. If your height is close to average and your waist is close to 90 cm, the two criteria will usually tell you the same thing. Calculate yours.
Healthy body fat for men — a different scale entirely
If BMI reads high because of muscle, this is the table that settles the question. The categories are the American Council on Exercise norms — fitness categories rather than clinical cut-offs, so treat a band boundary as a description, not a cliff.
| Category | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Below essential fat | < 10% | < 2% |
| Essential fat | 10 – 13% | 2 – 5% |
| Athletes | 14 – 20% | 6 – 13% |
| Fitness | 21 – 24% | 14 – 17% |
| Average (acceptable) | 25 – 31% | 18 – 24% |
| Above the average range | ≥ 32% | ≥ 25% |
Essential fat for men is far lower than for women — 2–5% against 10–13% — which is why every male band sits lower on the chart. Below the essential range is genuinely harmful, not an achievement. Estimate your own body fat percentage.
Three cases where you should ignore the BMI number
- You train with weights. As above — BMI cannot separate the mass you built from the mass you would rather lose. Read body fat and waist instead.
- Your BMI is 35 or above. NICE advises that at this level a waist measurement adds almost no further predictive information, so the BMI figure is the one to act on rather than second-guess.
- You are 65 or over. NICE advises interpreting BMI with caution in this group, and the reason is the same mechanism as the muscle case: muscle loss with stable weight raises the fat fraction without moving the number.
Waist-to-height ratio holds up in all three situations, which is the practical argument for tracking it: one threshold, no adjustment.
All eleven standards, side by side
| Standard | Normal range | Overweight from | Obesity from | Waist / central obesity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WHO international (global)World Health Organization | 18.5 – 24.9 | 25.0 | 30.0 | — | Primary source |
| WHO Expert Consultation 2004 (Asian populations)World Health Organization expert consultation, published in The Lancet | 18.5 – 22.9 | 23.0 | 27.5 | — | Primary source |
| WHO Asia-Pacific (WPRO / IASO / IOTF)WHO Western Pacific Regional Office, International Association for the Study of Obesity, International Obesity Task Force | 18.5 – 22.9 | 23.0 | 25.0 | — | Primary source |
| ChinaNational Health Commission of the PRC — health industry standard WS/T 428 | 18.5 – 23.9 | 24.0 | 28.0 | M ≥90cm / W ≥85cm | Primary source |
| Hong Kong, ChinaDepartment of Health, Centre for Health Protection — adopting the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office classification for Asian adults | 18.5 – < 23.0 | 23.0 | 25.0 | WHtR < 0.5 | Primary source |
| SingaporeHealth Promotion Board (HPB), Ministry of Health | 18.5 – 22.9 | 23.0 | 27.5 | M ≥90cm / W ≥80cm | Primary source |
| JapanJapan Society for the Study of Obesity (JASSO) | 18.5 – 24.9 | — | 25.0 | M ≥85cm / W ≥90cm | Primary source |
| South KoreaKorean Society for the Study of Obesity (KSSO) | 18.5 – 22.9 | 23.0 | 25.0 | M ≥90cm / W ≥85cm | Primary source |
| India and South AsiaConsensus statement for Asian Indians (Misra et al., JAPI 2009); Indian Council of Medical Research | 18.0 – 22.9 | 23.0 | 25.0 | M ≥90cm / W ≥80cm | Primary source |
| UK NICE guidance — Asian, Chinese, Middle Eastern and Black African/Caribbean adultsNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence (UK), guideline NG246 | 18.5 – 22.9 | 23.0 | 27.5 | WHtR < 0.5 | Primary source |
| ADA 2026 standard for Asian populationsAmerican Diabetes Association — Standards of Care in Diabetes 2026, adult overweight and obesity | 18.5 – 22.9 | 23.0 | 27.5 | M ≥90cm / W ≥80cm | Primary source |
All 11 standards shown, each read from the issuing authority's own document (linked per row). The WHO 2004 figures of 23.0 / 27.5 are public-health action points, not a redefinition of the international categories.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a separate BMI chart for men?
- No. The cut-points are the same for men and women in every standard on this site. What differs is the waist threshold — 90 cm for men against 80 or 85 cm for women — and the healthy body fat range, which is lower for men.
- What is a healthy BMI for a man?
- 18.5–24.9 on the WHO international scale. For men of Asian descent the overweight line falls to 23.0 under the WHO 2004 action points, the WHO Asia-Pacific scale and the ADA's 2026 criteria, giving a healthy range of roughly 18.5–22.9.
- Why does BMI say I am overweight when I am not?
- Because muscle is denser than fat and BMI cannot tell the two apart. A lean, muscular man at 1.80 m and 85 kg reads BMI 26.2 — overweight on the WHO international scale and obese on the WHO Asia-Pacific scale — whatever his body composition actually is. This is the most common false positive in BMI. Measure your waist: if it is under 90 cm and under half your height, the waist reading is the more informative of the two.
- What waist measurement should a man aim for?
- Below 90 cm under the ADA 2026 criteria for Asian populations and India's 2009 consensus, and below 94 cm under the WHO international figures. Waist-to-height ratio is the more portable target: keep your waist under half your height, which is below 0.5 for everyone.
Data sources and how we verify them
Every cut-point, band and formula on this page is taken from the issuing authority's own document, listed below. We do not use second-hand summaries, and we do not fill gaps with numbers no source states.
- World Health Organization (WHO)
International cut-points (25 / 30) and the 2004 Asian action points
- National Health Commission of the PRC
China's current adult cut-points — WS/T 428 (24 / 28) and waist criteria
- Department of Health, Hong Kong, China
Hong Kong classification (23 / 25), from the Population Health Survey 2020-22
- Health Promotion Board, Singapore
Singapore's three-band risk ladder (18.5–22.9 / 23.0–27.4 / ≥27.5)
- Japan Society for the Study of Obesity (JASSO)
Japan's classification, which has no overweight tier (obesity from 25)
- Korean Society for the Study of Obesity (KSSO)
Korea's classification and abdominal-obesity waist thresholds
- Indian Council of Medical Research / Misra consensus
South Asian cut-points, including the 18.0 lower bound
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), UK
Lower ethnic-specific thresholds for Asian adults in the UK (23 / 27.5)
- American Diabetes Association (ADA)
2026 standards — Asian obesity at 27.5 and central obesity overriding BMI
Cut-points are population-level statistical thresholds, not individual diagnoses. If your value sits near a category line, measure your waist as well and read it alongside body-fat percentage. Last checked: 2026-09-15.
Sources
- WHO — Obesity and overweight fact sheet (BMI 25 / 30)
- WHO Expert Consultation — Appropriate body-mass index for Asian populations (Lancet 2004;363:157–163)
- NICE guideline NG246 — BMI with caution in adults with high muscle mass and in adults aged 65 and over
- ADA Standards of Care in Diabetes 2026 — adult overweight and obesity, including the 50% sensitivity figure and central-obesity override
- American Council on Exercise (ACE) — percent body fat norms for men and women
- KSSO — Diagnosis of Obesity, 2022 guideline update (abdominal obesity: waist ≥90 cm in men)
- Misra et al. — Consensus Statement for Asian Indians (JAPI 2009)
Every figure above was checked against the original document. This page is general information, not medical advice.
Other countries and regions
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Content on this site is for general information only and does not constitute medical advice. Consult a doctor or qualified health professional for personal health concerns. Last updated: August 9, 2026.
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