Waist-to-Hip Ratio Calculator
Divide your waist by your hip measurement and compare the result with the WHO thresholds for fat distribution.
Result
Enter waist circumference and hip circumference to see the result.
https://calcgallery.com/body-composition/waist-to-hip-ratio-calculator/
How to use the Waist-to-Hip Ratio Calculator
- Choose which WHO threshold to compare against. The consultation reported them on a female/male binary.
- Measure your waist midway between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone.
- Measure your hips around the widest point of the buttocks.
- Optionally add your height for the waist-to-height ratio, and read both against the thresholds.
How it is calculated
The ratio is one division:
waist-to-hip ratio = waist ÷ hipBoth measurements are lengths, so the units cancel and the answer is the same whether you measure in inches or centimetres. The calculator still converts everything to metres internally, because the number is meant to be identical either way and relying on two raw entries happening to share a unit is how that guarantee gets lost.
The WHO 2008 expert consultation reported thresholds above which abdominal fat distribution is associated with substantially increased risk:
| Threshold | |
|---|---|
| Male equation | 0.90 and above |
| Female equation | 0.85 and above |
These are inclusive. A ratio landing exactly on 0.90 is at the threshold, not below it.
When you supply a height, the page also reports the waist-to-height ratio, which is the waist divided by the height. It needs one fewer measurement and applies one rule across adults of any size, which is why some researchers prefer it.
What this does not tell you. It is an indicator of where fat is carried, based on two tape measurements. It is not a diagnosis, it does not measure fat directly, and it cannot distinguish abdominal fat under the muscle wall from fat just beneath the skin — which is the distinction that actually matters for metabolic risk. It is not meaningful during pregnancy or where an abdominal condition is affecting the waist measurement.
Practical tips
Tape position dominates the result. The waist landmark is the midpoint between the lowest rib and the top of the hip bone, which for most people sits above the navel. Measuring at the navel instead will usually give a different, and larger, number.
Breathe out normally and do not pull. Holding the stomach in or tightening the tape produces a ratio describing your posture rather than your build.
Measure twice, on the same day. If the two readings differ by more than a centimetre, take a third. The ratio is sensitive enough that a single sloppy measurement can move it across a threshold.
The thresholds are population cut-offs. They were chosen where risk in large studies begins to rise noticeably, not because anything changes in an individual body at 0.90.
Use it alongside other measures, not instead of them. WHO treats waist measures as complementary to BMI. Together they say more about build than either alone, and neither says anything about fitness, blood pressure or blood glucose.
With your numbers
- Waist 30 in ÷ hip 38 in = 0.79, below the WHO threshold for this equation
Quick reference
A risk indicator from two tape measurements, not a diagnosis. It does not account for pregnancy or abdominal conditions.
| Example | Waist-to-hip ratio |
|---|---|
| Male, 34 in waist, 40 in hip | 0.85 |
| Male, 38 in waist, 40 in hip | 0.95 |
| Male, 42 in waist, 42 in hip | 1 |
| Female, 30 in waist, 38 in hip | 0.79 |
| Female, 34 in waist, 40 in hip | 0.85 |
| Male, 94 cm waist, 100 cm hip | 0.94 |
| Female, 76 cm waist, 96 cm hip | 0.79 |
| Female, 85 cm waist, 100 cm hip | 0.85 |
Where the numbers come from
The fixed figures this calculator relies on, and the published source each one was checked against. How the calculators are built and checked
1 source
WHO, Waist Circumference and Waist-Hip Ratio: Report of a WHO Expert Consultation, Geneva, 8-11 December 2008 (2011), Annex A, Table A1, p. 27, https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/44583: waist-hip ratio ≥0.90 (M), ≥0.85 (W), "substantially increased" risk of metabolic complications. The table credits the cut-offs to WHO 1999 (WHO/NCD/NCS/99.2); the consultation did not set them.
Used for
- Waist-to-hip ratio at or above which WHO's table puts men at substantially increased risk of metabolic complications.
- Waist-to-hip ratio at or above which WHO's table puts women at substantially increased risk of metabolic complications.
Common questions about the Waist-to-Hip Ratio Calculator
- Is waist-to-hip ratio better than BMI?
- It measures something different. BMI captures how heavy you are for your height; the ratio captures where the weight sits. Abdominal fat is more strongly associated with cardiovascular and metabolic risk than fat carried on the hips and thighs, so the ratio adds information BMI has no access to. WHO treats waist measures and BMI as complementary, not as one replacing the other.
- Do the thresholds differ by ethnicity?
- WHO states that they do. The 2008 expert consultation records that the relationship between waist measures and risk varies across populations, and that thresholds derived largely from European data may not transfer. It did not publish a full set of population-specific cut-offs for the ratio. This calculator uses the general ones, and that limitation is worth raising with a clinician.
- What about waist-to-height ratio?
- It is the simpler alternative and needs no hip measurement. The commonly used guidance is to keep your waist under half your height, which has the advantage of being one rule for adults of any size. This page reports it when you enter a height, as a second reading rather than a replacement.
- Where exactly does the tape go?
- WHO specifies the waist at the midpoint between the lowest palpable rib and the top of the iliac crest, which for most people is above the navel rather than at it. Hips go around the widest part of the buttocks. Stand upright, breathe out normally, keep the tape horizontal and snug without compressing, and measure twice. Moving the waist tape a few centimetres changes the ratio more than most real changes do.
- Does it work during pregnancy?
- No. The measurement is dominated by the pregnancy rather than by fat distribution, and the thresholds were not derived on pregnant populations. The same applies to abdominal conditions such as ascites or a large hernia, where the waist measurement is reflecting something other than what the ratio is meant to indicate.