Waist-to-Hip Ratio Calculator
Your waist-to-hip ratio is your waist measurement divided by your hip measurement. It describes where you carry fat rather than how much of it you have, which is why it adds something a scale cannot: fat stored around the abdomen and the organs raises cardiometabolic risk in a way that the same fat on the hips and thighs does not. The World Health Organization treats 0.90 or more in men, and 0.85 or more in women, as marking substantially increased risk. This page also gives your waist-to-height ratio, where the rule of thumb is simply to keep your waist under half your height.
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Waist-to-hip ratio
0.86
Waist-to-height band
Healthy — waist under half your height
Details
Updates as you typeThe WHO waist-to-hip cut-off is 0.90 for men and 0.85 for women.
Measure midway between the lowest rib and the top of the hip bone, at the end of a normal breath out.
Measure around the widest part of the buttocks, keeping the tape level all the way round.
Used for the waist-to-height ratio only — the waist-to-hip ratio does not need it.
Summary
Below the WHO cut-off for your sexWaist-to-hip ratio
0.86
- Waist-to-height ratio
- 0.49
- Waist-to-height band
- Healthy — waist under half your height
- WHO cut-off for men
- 0.90
- Share of the WHO cut-off
- 95.9%
- Waist that meets the cut-off
- 91.8 cm
- The 0.90 and 0.85 cut-offs come from the WHO expert consultation on waist circumference and waist-hip ratio (Geneva, 2008; report published 2011). They mark substantially increased risk of metabolic complications at a population level — they describe an association across groups of people, not a diagnosis of any individual, and no ratio on its own tells you whether you are ill.
- This is a different question from the one the body fat calculator answers, even though it uses the same tape. That page estimates how much fat you carry; this one describes where you carry it. Two people can hold identical body fat percentages and sit on opposite sides of the WHO line, because fat stored around the abdomen and the organs behaves differently from fat stored on the hips and thighs.
- The WHO report notes that the optimal cut-off differs between ethnic groups, and the ratio is not meaningful during pregnancy. Absolute waist circumference matters too: the same consultation flags a waist over 102cm in men or 88cm in women as substantially increased risk regardless of the proportion.
How this is calculated
- Waist
- 88.0 cm
- Hip
- 102.0 cm
- Waist ÷ hip = waist-to-hip ratio
- 0.863
- WHO cut-off for men
- 0.90
- Your ratio as a share of that cut-off
- 95.9%
- Height
- 180.0 cm
- Half your height
- 90.0 cm
- Waist ÷ height = waist-to-height ratio
- 0.489
Compare scenarios
See how one change moves the result
- CurrentYour inputs as they stand0.86Current
- Waist circumferencecm 1101.08
- Hip circumferencecm 127.50.69
For informational purposes only. This is not medical advice — consult a healthcare professional about your health.
Frequently asked questions
What is a healthy waist-to-hip ratio?
The WHO expert consultation on waist circumference and waist-hip ratio puts the line at 0.90 for men and 0.85 for women: at or above it, the risk of metabolic complications is classed as substantially increased. Below the line there is no published grading, so this page reports how far below you are rather than inventing a category. Remember the ratio is a proportion, so a large waist paired with large hips can read as acceptable when the absolute waist measurement on its own would not.
How is this different from the body fat calculator, which uses the same measurements?
They answer two different questions from one tape. The body fat calculator feeds waist, hip, neck and height into the US Navy regression to estimate what percentage of your body is fat — how much. This page compares waist against hips and against height to describe fat distribution — where. Distribution carries independent risk: two people with identical body fat percentages can sit on opposite sides of the WHO line, and the one carrying it abdominally has the higher cardiometabolic risk.
Why is the cut-off different for men and women?
Women typically store proportionally more fat on the hips and thighs and less around the abdomen, so the same ratio represents more central fat in a woman than in a man. The WHO therefore sets a lower threshold for women, at 0.85 rather than 0.90. Because the line moves with sex, the meter on this page plots your ratio as a percentage of your own cut-off, so 100 percent always means "exactly on the WHO line" whichever threshold applies to you.
Is waist-to-height ratio better than BMI?
For predicting cardiometabolic risk in an individual, most published comparisons say yes. BMI cannot tell muscle from fat and says nothing about where fat sits, whereas waist-to-height captures central adiposity directly and needs no separate table for sex or height. It also comes with a rule you can remember without a calculator: keep your waist under half your height. NICE bands it as 0.4 to 0.49 healthy, 0.5 to 0.59 increased, and 0.6 or more high.
Where exactly should I measure my waist and hips?
Measure the waist midway between the lowest rib and the top of the hip bone, directly against the skin, at the end of a normal breath out, without pulling your stomach in. Measure the hips around the widest part of the buttocks with the tape level all the way round. Keep the tape snug but not compressing. Because this is a ratio, a consistent technique matters more than the absolute numbers: measuring the waist at the navel instead will shift both the ratio and its comparison against the cut-off.
Can the ratio be misleading?
Yes, in a few situations. Very muscular hips and thighs raise the denominator and flatter the ratio. Losing weight from the hips can push the ratio up even as total fat falls. It is not meaningful during pregnancy. The WHO report also notes that the optimal cut-off differs between ethnic groups — several Asian populations show elevated risk at lower values than the global figures used here. Pair the ratio with your absolute waist measurement rather than relying on either alone.