This is a comparative tool which means it also has its drawbacks and limitations. For example, if you're in the 75th percentile, it means that 75% of the female population in the USA has a BMI similar to or lower than yours. What the percentile value tells you is where you rank in terms of BMI for women amongst the rest of the American female population. For this calculator, we have selected the female population of the USA and divided it into age groups of ten years, as follows: 20-29, 30-39. Each percentile tells you how you relate to the rest of the population in your group. Technically you could have 100 different percentiles but to make it easier for ourselves, we typically divide them into groups of more than 1%. One way to understand it is to think of them as percentage brackets. Percentile is another statistical measurement closely related to the concept of percentage. Let's move on to the BMI percentile results you heard about, which this calculator is able to provide. We will get into more detail about these problems, as well as discussing the validity of the values for healthy BMI for women and how we can assess our body health better by combining BMI with other parameters. Unfortunately, the reality is much more complicated than that, and this dissonance just exposes the problem of BMI when dealing with different body types.

Another way to look at it is that even though women tend to have higher levels of healthy body fat, which would make them heavier, men also tend to have higher levels of muscle, which weighs more and contributes to balancing this effect. There are no distinct charts for males and females because, among other reasons, BMI is just a statistical parameter and doesn't take into account the differences in body shapes and musculature between individuals or groups. You can see the chart in the section below. These ranges can be plotted on a BMI chart for females and males. We also include other subcategories that are in agreement with WHO guidelines. We will use this as a reference from now on.

On page 9 of this report, there are all the BMI categories recognized by WHO and their BMI ranges. In the year 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a report called Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic. However, its simplicity makes it very convenient as a first-approach tool to statistically determine if someone is underweight or has an obese BMI, so you can start looking deeper at why that is and if there are any health risks associated. BMI was never designed to be a diagnostic tool, and it has many flaws, which we will talk about later. However, it is a good statistical measurement so we know if there is anything drastically wrong with our bodies and if we need to worry about health problems. To discover what is a normal BMI or establish where you place in the BMI range, you should always use the metric system, that is, your weight in kilograms and your height in meters.īMI is not a definite measurement of anything health-related. In particular, BMI is calculated from these two variables by the following BMI calculation formula:Ī crucial remark about this formula is that the units you use DO matter. But for those who don't, and for the sake of completeness, we will briefly explain what is BMI, how it is measured, and how you can answer the question 'What is my BMI?' even without this BMI calculator for females.īMI stands for Body Mass Index and is a measurement of the relationship between two prominent body metrics: your weight and height. Most of you reading this already know what BMI is, what it stands for, and you probably have some idea of what a good BMI is.

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