Body mass index

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

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