Body mass index (BMI) is a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters.
BMI and weight category—
- underweight,
- healthy weight,
- overweight,
- obesity.
BMI is moderately correlated with measures of body fat.
BMI strongly correlated with various metabolic and disease outcomes.
Healthy weight or normal weight:
A healthy weight for adults is between 18.5 and 24.9 kg/m2 (for all ethnicities except Asians, for whom the upper value of BMI is 21.8 kg/m2).
Overweight:
BMI of 25 kg/m2 or higher in adults.
Obese:
Obesity is a BMI of 30 kg/m2 or higher in adults.
Underweight:
Adults with a BMI of 18.49 kg/m2 or less are considered underweight.
Formula to calculate BMI
BMI = Weight (kg)/Height (m)²
